


By The Power Vested In Me By Elvis

by definitelynotafan



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, M/M, Married in Vegas AU, Niall-centric, Sort Of, YouTuber Niall, implied past Niall/Bressie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 06:31:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15551736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/definitelynotafan/pseuds/definitelynotafan
Summary: "By the power vested in me by Elvis, I declare that you can shag me." Louis slurs. "If you want to, that is. Husbands still need consent." He adds.And Niall really wants to. If this is the only chance he'll get, he'll take it. He can worry about the outcome later. Right now he is drunk enough to not care and Harry isn't there to tell him otherwise.Or:London-based YouTuber Niall marries a stranger in Las Vegas for a video. It's okay, it's not a legal wedding if one of the grooms is already married, he made sure of it.Louis is a young dad living in LA to be closer to his son. The video seems fun and his marriage is only real on paper anyway. (It makes living and working abroad easier.)They are meant to go their separate ways afterwards, but Louis makes a lasting impression on Niall.idea inspired by this Buzzfeed video





	By The Power Vested In Me By Elvis

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I cannot believe the day is finally here.
> 
> I had this idea when I watched the Buzzfeed video for the first time and when I had to choose one idea for the Collab I thought why not?  
> I struggled a lot during writing because I kept getting side tracked by other plot bunnies but I am proud of myself for finishing it. This is the longest complete work of fiction that I have ever written and that's something. 
> 
> I want to start by thanking my [amazing artist](http://bonespockjim.tumblr.com) for creating the artwork for the fic. I've never been part of an exchange like this and it's so much fun. 
> 
>  
> 
> I also want to thank the mods of the 1DCollab for their hard work. Without them, none of this would have happened. It gave me the chance to learn a lot about myself and my creative process and it also gave us so many new fics to read. 
> 
> Lastly I want to thank all my friends and followers who motivated me while writing and therefore are the reason I finished this. 
> 
> To anyone who would like to participate in the future, but isn't sure because they've never written much or never posted anything, I want to say: Sign up! It's so much fun and the support network surrounding it is amazing. No one is going to judge your abilities, or compare them. The mods aren't there to yell at you for missing the deadline by a day. They are the to help you create the story you've head in your head for a while. 
> 
> I hope there will be another even next year, as I already have so many ideas. 
> 
> As always, if you like it, please consider leaving a kudos/comment, as it really makes a difference to us writers! 
> 
> xx Verena

That's a bit … mad. Don't you think?" Harry says, looking up from the notebook in his hands. He had been helping Niall brainstorm new ideas for videos for the past couple of hours. Niall had written down a few things that he had been tossing around in his head for a bit, trying to get a second opinion.  

"No, hear me out, okay?" Niall says sitting up on his bed. He had been slouched back for a while now and his bum knee was starting to sting a bit. On top of that the sun was just beginning to set on this late winter afternoon, hitting his eyes straight on. But he guesses they should feel lucky, sunny London is better than dark and cloudy London.  

Niall had researched the video. It's not as weird as it sounds. Veags Wedding's are real, legitimate weddings, and they are fascinating. The idea had been on his mind for a while already, he had explored so many different angles, and this is the best way to showcase it, Niall is sure.  

"So, if one of the people involved in the wedding is already legally married, the marriage is void and will be annulled. It's like you were never married. So …it would just be for the video." 

Harry still stares at him as if he had lost his mind.  

"When you said you wanted to go to Las Vegas to film a video, I was thinking more along the lines of Casinos and cocktails. Not getting married to a stranger by Elvis." Harry says.  

Niall can tell that Harry isn't sold on the idea yet. And he'll need him to be, since Harry will go with him and Niall doesn't want a grumpy camera man.  

"But everyone is doing that. No one has done a video of them getting married at random."  

"There is a reason for that, you know?" Harry sighs.  

Sighing is good, sighing means he is coming around. But in the end, Harry had always come around, either way. In this past three years of working with Harry, there had never been an instance where Harry had not agreed to any of Niall's more outlandish video ideas. He might have grumbled about health and safety and been even poutier than usual but in the end, he had always seen Niall's side of things. And he never had told Niall "I told you so." when an idea had proven to be as bad as Harry had first assumed. Like that time Niall almost gotten a tattoo, his first, for a video. Niall had chickened out, just like Harry had warned him about. They did get a nice video of Harry getting a tattoo though. People liked it. (Niall has a strong assumption that people liked seeing Harry take his shirt off. Which he hadn't even been asked of him, since he had gotten the tattoo on his biceps.)  

"It's what my fans want to see." Niall tries again. 

"No, I believe most of them answered the question  _what_ _should Harry and I_ _do while we're in Vegas_  with, get married. To each other." Harry waggles his eyebrows at Niall.  

Which, okay, is true. Harry doesn't actually show up in many of Niall's videos, but when he does a lot of his fans get excited. Many of them want him and Harry to date, Niall has seen the fanart and everything.  

"Well, if you and Nick would have gotten married already, I could have married you. But you didn't." Niall throws back. 

"Nick and I don't need a paper proving that we love each other." Harry voice sounds jokingly but there is a smile on his face that shows that he and Nick have talked about it and it warms Niall's heart to see his best friends this happy.  

"God, fuck off with your happy healthy relationship. Be more like a normal twentysomething year old." Not that Niall would let Harry know that.  

Harry just continues to smile his  _Nick smile_ and gets out his phone, probably to text his boyfriend. They've been dating for 6 years, ever since Harry was 18 and did that internship at the BBC. Sometimes Niall wonders how Harry had ended up doing the technical work for him, instead of on some big TV production like he deserves. But they had met in university when Niall's channel had still been tiny and only had need the occasional help. Back when Niall was still doing song covers only, with his guitar in their tiny flat in London.  

Now, six years later, Niall has a couple million subscribers, a separate channel for his music covers, one for his vlogs, and the main channel is pretty much everything he can think of to generate views. It's going more than okay. Their flat is nicer as well. Not that Harry would notice. When they aren't working on videos, Harry is staying at Nick's most of the time. Even of that means waking up to Nick's alarm clock at 5am and then listening to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show while dozing off again. But he does that even when he is not a Nick's. When Niall and Harry fight, Niall listens to Capital FM in the morning just to spite him. Nick thinks it's hilarious. 

The discussions about the Vegas video do go on for a bit, but the end up agreeing on it. Harry started to warm up to it when Niall had asked him to be his best man. As if it ever was going to be anyone else.  

As per Harry's request, Niall lets Harry handle the legal aspect of the video. These days, Harry acts more like the producer of the channel, even though he will refuse it, if being asked. One day, Niall will have to formally employ at least three people to do the work Harry does now.  

*** 

It's an early Tuesday morning when Niall and Harry stand in line to check in their baggage at Heathrow Airport. Traffic was slow and they arrived way too early, even for an international flight, but Niall hadn't been able to sleep the night before, too anxious about missing the flight and worrying over whether his video equipment will be handled with care. Harry has been talking nonstop for what feels like the past hour, seemingly not bothered that Niall's replies had mostly consisted of hums, grunts or nodding.  

They get coffee at a Starbucks and Niall gets recognised by the young barista while they finish his order. It's been happening more and more, that sometimes people on the street come up to him and ask him for pictures or want to talk to him about his videos. The novelty hasn't worn off and he is surprised again and again when it happens. Niall had once mentioned something like it to Harry and how he is surprised that Harry doesn't get stopped more, since he basically features in ever second video on Nick's Instagram story. But Harry had just laughed and reminded him that more people watch Niall's videos than listen to the Breakfast Show, to which Niall had just hummed, because, right yeah. It's weird. 

Time moves slowly until they get called to board the plane. Niall is ready to pass out as soon as they are seated, has his headphones and a pillow ready. Harry is still texting away furiously on his phone, texting Nick, as if the plane didn't have wifi. They are not flying to Las Vegas directly, but rather LA, where Niall has a collaboration planned with another musician on YouTube, before renting a car and driving to Vegas. He has only got one week and he wants to make the most out of it, get as much content as he can.  

The flight itself is pretty uneventful. Niall sleeps for the first three hours before getting out his laptop and starting to work on some scripted videos he has planned in the future. He also sends an email to Zayn, the musician in LA, confirming that the plane left on time. Zayn lets them stay at his place in LA for the couple ofdays, a nice house with a pool in the garden he is not sure how Zayn can afford. The flight goes over faster than Niall would have assumed and before he knows it he and Harry are standing outside of LAX, like dorks still in their winter coats, because they don't have any hands left to carry them. It's Niall's third time in LA and, apparently, he still forgets about the temperature difference between here and London.  

Zayn arrives in a cab over half an hour late but like promised. There is some hugging and awkward small talk involved while Niall and Harry load their stuff into the boot of the car. Niall tells Zayn about the video he as planned for Vegas. 

"So, you're actually planning on just marrying a stranger? In one of those Elvis chapels?" Zayn asks. Niall loves notes how much more pronounced Zayn's accent is when he isn't talking on camera. Overall, there seem to be a lot of Brits living in LA. 

"Pretty much, yeah." 

"And who are you gonna marry?" 

At the question Niall's stomach turns a bit. He has everything about the video planned down to the smallest detail. He has talked to chapel to make sure they are available, he has talked to the hotel bar where they are staying to make sure they can have a small "fake wedding reception" there afterwards. Niall has even hired actors to fill the chapel and play his family and loved ones to make it seem more like an actual wedding. The only part missing from the whole thing is … someone to marry. Niall hadn't thought about how difficult it would be to find someone who is already married, willing to just marry him for a video. Either people thought the idea to be hilarious but weren't married, or they were married, but not so keen on having a fake ceremony again. Niall has posted an ad in some Facebook groups while on the plane and he also plans to just talk to random people on the streets once he actually gets to Las Vegas. It has to work.  

"Are you married by any chance?" Niall laughs.  

"You're mad." Zayn snorts. "I'm not, but please let me know how that turns out. I wish I could be there to see it." 

Too bad.  

They arrive at Zayn's house just as the sun is about to set. The orange light streaming in through the large windows make everything seem more vivid in colour. That, and maybe the fact that Niall feels like the jetlag has already started to set in. Zayn has set them up in his guest room, a big double bed. 

"I hope it's not a problem that you have to share? Otherwise I'm sure I have a blow-up mattress somewhere around here." 

"That's fine. Niall and I share all the time." Harry assured Zayn as he flopped down on the bed.  

Niall takes a shower first, wanting to wash off the dirt and plane. When he comes back Harry is already fast asleep. He'll wake up in a couple of hours and take off his skinny jeans when he gets uncomfortable, so Niall doesn't bother waking him and just puts the covers all around him before heading into the kitchen to talk some more to Zayn. If he went to bed now, he would mess up his whole sleep schedule, something he isn't too keen on. Not everyone can be like Harry and just slep whenever and wherever.  

Zayn is sitting on a plush sofa in front of a real fireplace, absentmindedly strumming away on a guitar, murmuring softly in what Niall assumes is Urdu. He stands in the door way for a while, mesmerised by the sound of Zayn's voice before he awkwardly coughs to announce his presence.  

"Did find the shower alright?" Zayn asks as he puts the guitar away.  

"Yeah, thanks. Was much needed." 

Zayn hums and moves to make room on the couch for Niall. This is the first time they are actually talking face to face and Niall feels his anxiety act up just a bit. He's been a fan of Zayn's videos for years, ever since Zayn had been just a small-town boy, his channel still being named "BradfordBadBoii". He hadn't thought that Zayn would actually agree to collab when he had basically slid in to his DMs asking, much less that Zayn would invite him to stay in his home. He's excited to see the reaction of his fans.  

"What were you singing just now? It sounded good." 

"Just something I'm going to put on Instagram later." 

"I didn't want to interrupt you." 

"Nah, it's fine it's not something official, like… just something I'm trying out to see how many people will like it." 

Niall nods and sits down.  

"Harry fell asleep straight away, but I'm trying to stay awake some more, otherwise I will just wake up at 3am."  

Niall and Zayn had talked about their video already through about a million emails so there is nothing to talk about there, which means that Niall has real time off for what seems like for the first time in forever. Until they start the actual filming process tomorrow.  

"Have you found someone to marry already? Has anyone replied?" Zayn asks after the silence stretches for too long. 

"No, still nothing. I fear we will have to find someone on the streets when we get there." 

"I still think is mad and brilliant at the same time. Getting married to a stranger, wow. How did you come up with that idea even?" 

Niall is silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He guesses it is kind of mad. 

"I don't know, I've always been a romantic, I guess. I know I'm still quite young but all I want is to find that someone I love so much that I can't wait to be theirs for the rest of my life. And I the thought of just eloping and getting married on a whim is like the epitome of romantic, you know?"  

Zayn nods but doesn't ask any questions so Niall goes on. 

"When you ask someone what the first thing in head is when they hear "eloping" they always say "Vegas", so I thought I'll do a whole thing on it. Talk to people who did get married in Vegas, people working at the chapel, an Elvis impersonator if I find one." Niall chuckles. 

"And do you have anyone you see marrying yourself in the future?" 

Niall huffs out a breath. 

"No. Had a girl in Ireland before I moved to London. And there is this guy that I sometimes hook up with but now he's opened a studio in Dublin, so I don't see that going anywhere." Niall feels the need to explain his lack of romantic prospects. "I don't get out much, I guess. I'm working too much." 

Zayn nods but doesn't comment. He doesn't react to the fact that Niall just basically came out to him. Niall likes people that don't react to it. In his opinion there is nothing to react.  

"What about you?" he asks when he realises he won't get much more out of Zayn. 

"Nah. No one on my radar at the moment. I'm like you, working too much. And I'm not really the going out and meeting kind of guy. That's why my last relationship ended. She always wanted to go out and do stuff with like a million on her friends, you know? When I have a girl I just wanna spend some quite time with her. Watch a movie or something." 

Niall gets that. He hates the club scene. Too many people, not enough space. It often makes breathing kind of hard for him.  

"Maybe come with us to Vegas and I'll find you a girl to marry. We can do a whole double wedding." Niall jokes. 

"Thanks mate, but then you're the one explaining to my parents that their son got married in Vegas without them. I like my head attached to my body just fine."  

"Fair enough." 

While on the subject of parents, Zayn asks Niall how his parents deal with the fact that their son doesn't have a traditional job. 

"Oh yeah that was a tough one for my dad." Niall says. "He's a great guy, very openminded and all, but when I told him that my work is just filming myself doing stupid shit and putting it up on the internet he was very concerned that I'd end up living at home until I'm 43." 

"How did you get them to lay off you?" 

"Showed them my bank account." Niall grins. 

Zayn laughs. 

"Money was never an issue for me, it's something that was in the family," Zayn gestures around the living room, as if to say 'as you can see', "but my dad is Pakistani and it was kind of assumed that I would go to uni. You know?" Zayn asks. "He loves music and I get my talent from him, but it took him and my mother to understand that that isn't me and would never make me happy. And all they wanted for me was to be happy."  

Niall can relate to that. Good parents always want to see their kids happy.  

The conversation continues easily after that and it's well after midnight, when Niall tells Zayn "Good Night" and heads to bed. Harry is spread-eagled across the bed in only his pants and Niall shakes his head before he starts shoving him back to his side. It won't last until the morning, but it should last long enough to fall asleep.  

Niall wakes up once during the night, when Harry snuggles into his shoulder. The next time he wakes up, it's morning and he's alone in bed. His head hurts a bit from sleeping on an unfamiliar pillow and he is sweating from sleeping in sweatpants and a shirt underneath the blanket. Before heading into the kitchen, he pulls off his shirt. 

Zayn is nowhere to be found but he spots Harry in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove. 

"Morning." Niall mumbles, his eyes searching the kitchen for something that looks like it makes coffee.  

"Good mooorning." Harry beams back at him, drawing out the vowels. Damn Harry and his energy in the morning. The only reason Niall ever gets up before noon is if he has to. Never in his life has he gotten up and felt the way Harry does in the morning. Back at home Harry goes for a run. It's disgusting. In a way it is fitting, that Harry is dating a morning show host who has to get up at 5 am every day. They fit. 

Niall mumbles a curse word back and climbs onto one of the high chairs at the breakfast bar. His eyes are barely open and the sunlight is still blinding him.  

"Where's Zayn?" he asks, feeling a bit weird in someone else's kitchen if they aren't here.  

"Still sleeping. I tried to wake him, but he just told me to fuck off, so I left him." Harry says, his tone way too cheery for someone whose been told to fuck off twice already this morning. "You want breakfast?" he adds. 

The question makes Niall look what sort of breakfast is in the making. In the past Harry has tired to get him to eat all sort of weird breakfast food. Niall is more of the traditional eggs and bacon type, maybe a bit of cereal. Nothing that needs an hour preparation time and comes with a fancy sauce. What can he say? He's a simple man.  

But he doesn't need to worry this time. In the pan, Harry is frying eggs and turkey bacon and behind him Niall finally spots a coffee maker. It's the simple things in life that make him happy. He tells Harry to make him some as well, while he tries to figure out how to get the coffee machine to work. He thinks he spotted a Starbucks close to the house on the drive over, but he doesn't really fancy a walk this early and he also wouldn't wake up Zayn just to satisfy his caffeine cravings.  

The first sip of coffee already makes Niall feel more awake. It lets him appreciate the whole situation that he is in a lot more. He is sipping coffee in LA, a whole day of sunshine and doing what he loves a head of him. He knows he is so much luckier than some other people.  

Zayn shuffles into the kitchen halfway through breakfast. He looks at Niall and Harry and from between scrunched up eyebrows. Niall tips his coffee mug in his direction as a form of greeting.  Harry offers him breakfast.  

"Where did you get the food from?" Zayn asks. His dark hair is dishevelled in the 'not on purpose' way and like Niall he is only wearing sweatpants. 

"I just popped into the shop on the corner on my way back from my run."  

Zayn's eyebrows shoot up as he looks at Niall. Niall just shrugs, he's used to this sort of behaviour from Harry. 

"I got eggs and turkey bacon and some bell peppers or tomatoes if you want. I can make you an omelette." 

"Yeah, he's always like that in the morning. No, you don't get used to it." Niall grins, the caffeine already making him more like himself. 

Zayn makes himself some coffee and lets Harry make him an omelette. Niall has the suspicion that Zayn is just too lazy to convince Harry otherwise. He can relate to that.  

It takes some more time but once Zayn is more awake, some personality comes back to him and he even remembers how to smile. The three make some idle chit chat and talk about LA in general for a while and afterwards, Harry volunteers to do the dishes. And who are Niall and Zayn to talk him out of it? 

After breakfast Zayn takes them into his studio and shows them around. He plays some unfinished edits for some of his original songs and a few clips for upcoming videos. Niall is impressed with the whole setup. He has been dreaming of his own little studio for quite some time now, but so far he has never had the money to buy the good equipment. And he isn't about to start doing things half arsed now. He has recorded a few original demos in Bressie's studio the last time he had been up to Dublin, but he hasn't posted any of them to his channel. They don't feel … finished yet.  

For the video Zayn and Niall had agreed on doing a cover of "fallingforyou" by The 1975 and Zayn plays them the background track he has mixed already. Niall is speechless, by the professionality of it. While Harry and Zayn get into the whole technical aspect of sound editing, Niall does some vocal warm up. He has long since stopped being self-conscious doing the ridiculous vocal runs in front of Harry and Zayn as a fellow vocal artist won't start laughing, he's sure.  

Then it's time to record. 

The recording takes most of the day. Harry isn't really needed but he hangs around and films a bit of behind the scenes footage, a cheap and easy way to get views. Niall is glad Harry is here to lighten the mood when things don't go as well as planned. In between the recording they order pizza and mock around, singing a few 90s boy band songs. They end up with an almost flawless video of Niall and Zayn duetting "I want it that way". Niall uploads a snippet of it to his Instagram story. Since he posted a picture at the airport the day before the fans have been very active, messaging him about where he's going and what he's doing; trying to guess whether he is going to collab with someone. He locks his phone before it gets blown up by all the messages. It's a fun day. They had planned in one day for the recording of the vocals and Zayn will edit it the next morning while Niall will continue looking for a stranger.  

*** 

The next morning is pretty much the same as the one before. Harry is up before the others and Niall is tired. Jetlag has started to get to him and he had spent the night before rolling around his side of the bed, trying not to think about the day ahead. He is going to take his laptop to the Starbucks in the area and try to get ahead on the whole message situation. There are some emails waiting and his mum called him while he was asleep. Probably didn't think about the time difference.  

Harry decides to stick with Zayn for the day and observe the editing part. Niall is glad that they are getting along so great. Not that he has ever met anyone who didn't get along with Harry. People tend to fall in love with him after about three minutes.  

After replying to some email about possible collabs and talking to his mum for about half an hour Niall finally gets around looking through the message boards he had posted on. No replies. Okay, there are replies but one is creepier than the other. Maybe posting on Craigslist had not been the best idea he had ever had. No one seems to seriously consider the offer. Niall had of course offered to pay for the night in the hotel and the food and drinks. His video budget is taking a huge hit for this video. If he doesn't make it one of his biggest successes it would have been not worth it really.  

Harry had promised to text Niall when they are done with the edits and are ready to get lunch but at about 11 Niall's stomach starts to make itself know in the form of loud grumbles. The guy on the table to his right even looks up from his phone for a second. The blue eyes are the first thing that Niall notices. Bluer than his own and crinkly with laughter that is slowly ebbing away. Niall makes the standard "Yeah I know" face and smiles when his stomach makes an even louder sound. He groans. How is this Starbucks so quiet?? Blue eyes smiles.  

"Mate, you should get something to eat. Soon." Blue eyes says. 

And holy shit, the accent hits Niall right in his heart. He takes a closer look at the man's face, getting more than interested. He has light brown hair, falling over his forehead in a messy fringe and some freckles dusting his cheeks. If Niall had to guess, based on the accent, he would think the man is from the North of England.  

"Not from here, are ya?" Niall says.  

"Seems like I'm not the only one." The guy answers and stretches out his hand. "I'm Louis." 

"Niall. Good to meet ya." 

They are quite for a moment but neither of them turns away.  

"Well?" Louis asks.  

"Well, what?" Niall says.  

"Well, are you gonna get some food. Doesn't sound too healthy if I'm honest, that stomach of yours." Louis says.  

"Can't yet. Waiting for my mates to finish work before we're getting something." 

Something almost like disappointment flashes across Louis' face for a second before his expression is back to a neutral one.  

"And when is that?" Louis asks. 

"Dunno, could be an hour could be more. And I don't know the area around here. Wouldn't know where to get something that isn't some healthy salad rubbish." Niall shrugs. 

"Ah, a man after my own heart. I was gonna offer to take you somewhere. I was about to get some late breakfast myself…" Louis trails off, a question at the end.  

Louis' smile seems genuine, like he is actually asking Niall and not just being polite. Niall thinks about it. If he goes to grab something to eat now and then Harry texts him it would be kind of rude, but then again maybe he and Zayn won't be in touch until well in the afternoon and he is really hungry. He was in a bad mood in the morning and declined Harry's omelette in favour of more sleep.  

"Yeah, I guess my mates won't mind." He says. "And I'll just go with them again. I'm always hungry." He lets out a nervous laugh, not sure what to say.  

Louis is like, really pretty. His eyes were the first thing Niall noticed but he also has a really handsome face with lightly tanned skin, sharp cheekbones and a smile that is a bit contagious. Niall has always had a weakness for pretty boys.  

"Great. What are you in the mood for? Pizza? Burgers? Both?" Louis asks.  

Niall isn't picky and they agree on a burger place that isn't expensive but gets you good quality burgers. According to Louis, anyway. Niall would have settled for McDonald's if he is being honest, but this is nice too. They get burger and fries and Niall accidentally orders the biggest size cup of coke he's ever seen because he didn't think that a "large" is something different in the States. Louis laughs at him for about a minute and then pays for the meal even though Niall protests.  

"So, you live in the area? Haven't seen you before. And I spend a lot of my time in that coffee shop." Louis asks as soon as they sit down.  

Niall had just taken the first bite of his burger and groans instead of answering Louis, who is watching him with a smile on his face.  

"Best burger you've ever had, am I right?" Louis ask. 

Niall nods vigorously back. Louis lets him eat a couple of more bites before he starts asking questions again.   

"So …? What are you in LA for? Work or holiday? Or are you an expat like me?" 

"For work. And a bit of a holiday, I guess. It's a bit of both with the kind of work I do." Niall says. 

"Oh? What work do you do?" Louis tilts his head at Niall. It reminds Niall of a puppy. Which is weird, he should shake that thought from his mind. 

"I do YouTube videos. I'm here for a shoot, actually." 

This makes Louis raise his eyes. 

"Wow, really? Would I have heard of you?" 

"Clearly not." Niall snorts.  

"Fair enough. But to be quite honest, I haven't really watched anything that wasn't Thomas the Tank Engine or something like that. So, unless you make videos for toddlers …" Louis trails off.  

"What?" Niall asks, confused. 

"I only really get to watch TV anymore with my son, when he refuses to fall asleep." Louis explains. 

Niall chokes on the sip of coke he was just having.  _A son._  That's not what he had expected. He reckons Louis is the same age as him. Maybe a year older. He hadn't seen a family somewhere in the picture. 

"Everything alright, mate?" Louis looks at him, slightly worried. 

"Yeah, sorry I'm fine." Niall pushes out through his coughs. "I wasn't expecting a son, that's all." 

Niall feels his cheeks heat up. He should not be judging Louis. He has known him for about 30 minutes and it's not his fault Niall had felt a flirty vibe going on. Clearly not.  

"Oh, yeah, no one really does. Wasn't really expecting him myself, you know." Louis says but then quickly continues, "But he's the best thing that ever happened to me and I love watching him grow up. He's the reason that I moved here." He takes a sip of his drink, avoiding Niall's gaze. Niall guesses there have been moments in the past where people have reacted even worse than Niall to the revelation. 

"That's amazing. My nephew is four now, and I know that's not the same, but I know what you mean about watching them grow. It's brilliant to see a baby turn into their own person, isn't it?" 

Louis lifts his head, surprise in his face that slowly spreads into a smile. 

"Yeah, exactly. Freddie is two and he is really starting to try to talk now. He's constantly babbling and when you ask him questions he gets really excited. I don't understand a word most of the time, but he is really trying so hard."  

The smile on Louis' face could brighten up some of the worst days Niall has ever had, he thinks, as he listens to Louis talk some more about his son. He learns what Freddie's first words were, how Louis is trying to get him into football, the British kind, and his frustration when the boy just keeps picking up the ball with his tiny arms instead. Louis shows him about a million pictures and videos on his phone and Niall can see the tiny baby growing into a blonde boy, refusing to sit still for even a moment. Freddie has Louis' eyes and nose and generally looks like a blonder version of Louis. In return, Niall shows Louis some pictures of Theo. They talk about getting toddlers to eat their veggies and how to deal with supermarket tantrums. They then move on to their favourite sports teams, music, and other hobbies. Niall learns that Louis is a freelance writer so they both know the pressure of being your own boss. They talk and talk until suddenly Niall's phone ringing rips them both out of their flow. The clock reads 3:17pm and Niall has no idea how the time could have passed this fast.  

"Oi, where you at? Thought you would have come back by now." Harry says, skipping the greeting. 

"Nope, finally got tired of you. I've run off." Niall jokes back easily.  

"Okay. Just wanted to let you know that we're done with the edits and Z is taking us out for pizza. If you could kindly make you way back to us. From wherever you are." Harry says. 

Niall finishes the call and looks back at Louis.  

"So, I guess this is goodbye?" Louis says. 

"Yeah, I guess so."  Niall shrugs.  

They both stand up and come to a stop in front of each other. Niall isn't sure whether he should go in for the hug or not.  

"Anyway, it was nice to get to know you. You really brightened up my day. Procrastinating writing sucks so much more when you're on your own. So, thanks. I guess." 

"No, thank you. I would have starved in that coffee shop. You saved me from certain death." Niall laughs and runs his hand through his hair.  

"That I did. Well… who knows, maybe we run into each other again, one day. I might find myself in London some time." 

Niall just nods, in the absence of knowing what else to do. Then he gets out his phone again.  

"Um … would it be okay if I added you on Facebook or something? So you can let me know when are around?" Niall asks.  

Louis lights up and plucks the phone from Niall's hand.  

"Yeah, sure." He's putting in his name. "Here, that's me." He says and immediately takes out his own phone to accept the friend request.  

"Great, sorry I have to rush now. Hope you get some more writing done." 

Louis wishes Niall a great day and all the best with his video shoot. He also promises to look up some of Niall's videos. Just the thought of Louis watching his videos makes Niall feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He's still smiling when he arrives back at the house, Harry and Zayn already waiting outside for him. They make an odd pair standing next to each other. Harry is dressed up in colourful Hawaii shirt that you'd expect on a 50-year-old dad, having a bit of a barbeque in his back garden, and not on a 23-year-old. And definitely not paired with white skinny jeans. Next to him Zayn is wearing grey sweatpants and a black tank top, even in his afternoon heat he wears a beanie. Harry waves at him while Zayn gives him a nod in greeting and then they set off. Zayn is driving them, and even though Niall and Harry would probably need to practice driving on the other side of the road since in only a couple of days the will be sitting behind the wheel of a rental car and driving all the way to Las Vegas. But Zayn is the only one who knows the way to the pizza place, so it makes more sense. 

They talk about the video over their pizza. Zayn tells them more about his plans for the future and asks once again how the search for a person to marry is going. Niall blushes a bit when he admits that instead of looking for a willing participant he has gone out for food with a guy he met.  

"You just went with a stranger?" Harry asks, his voice laced with worry. 

"It's not like I went to his home with him. We walked to a burger place near here. And he isn't like ... a weirdo. He's a writer and he's from England. We just got along."  

When Niall lets it slip that Louis paid for the food there is whooping from both Zayn and Niall.  

"It's nothing like that. He just wanted to be nice." Niall says but Harry is already shaking his head. 

"Zayn, how often do you take out a stranger you just met for food? Just to be nice?" he says with a sly grin.  

"Never. But I have picked up girls like. Just saying." 

Niall sighs and shakes his head.  

"No, it's nothing like that. He was bored and mostly talked about our work or his son." At Harry and Zayn's surprised faces adds "That's right, he has a son. So he definitely isn't looking for a quick shag. No one who is looking for a shag picks up someone in the middle of the day in a coffee shop. We were just talking because we realised we got along well. It was nice." 

Harry doesn't look at all convinced, but he lets it go in the end. 

 

The time difference is still getting to Niall and it is a hard fight against his inner clock to stay up longer than Harry. But there is something he needs to do. It's vital that he stays up longer than Harry in order to arrange the final details on a surprise he had been planning for Harry. Even though, technically, the wedding isn't 100% happening yet, weeks ago he had talked to Nick about flying out to Vegas to surprise Harry. Niall might be the one dreaming about his wedding day since the day he can remember but Harry is a true romantic in their friendship. Nick had been looking for a way to repay Harry for all the out of the blue romantic dates Harry had put on over the years. Nick is flying out to Las Vegas over the weekend, since he can't get a day off work in the middle of the week.   

Niall makes himself another cup of coffee as he waits for Harry to go to bed before he sets up his laptop in the living room. The sounds of Zayn strumming quietly away on his guitar drift over from somewhere in the house. It's making Niall feel quiet at peace, even though it takes a couple of tries to log on to Skype as usual. Nick is already online and Niall calls him immediately. It takes a minute before the connection is stable, and then Niall can finally talk to Nick.  

"Hiya, how's LA?" Nick grins. 

"Hot and humid, like always I guess?" Niall shrugs.  

"Sounds about right. How's my Harry doing?" Niall can't help but notice the fondness in Nick's voice. 

"He's fine. Sleeping right now, but he has already worn two different floral print shirts and his hair is actually glowing. He's even gotten a tan already. He's barely been in the sun, it's mad." Niall answers. 

"That sounds like my Harry, alright." Nick says before getting right down to business since he has to go into work right after.  

"So, am I still flying out for the wedding?" 

"Of course. I still have to find someone to marry but everything else is set up and ready and I can't wait to see Harry's face when he sees you." Niall talks Nick again through the whole plan. 

"That sound great. I can't wait either. I do miss him quite a bit, you know?"  

"Yeah, it's sickening to see you both this happy and in love all the time." Niall says but his tone is light and he is actually smiling. Who could be sad at the sight of what seems to be true love? 

They hang up soon afterwards and agree to text when Nick is heading to the airport, right after the show on Friday. If all goes well, Nick will be waiting in Harry's hotel room when he and Niall get to Las Vegas in two days. Niall will sneakily film the whole thing and if the footage turns out good he'll cut it into the montage video he is doing of the whole trip.  

"You still haven't sorted out the marriage thing?" Zayn interrupts Niall's thoughts.  

"Huh? Yeah, I haven't. I'm gonna go around and posting on Facebook and Twitter again in the morning. Worst case it, we'll find some in Vegas by talking to people on the street." Zayn nod his head along. "I didn't think it would be this hard actually." 

"Well, I hope you find someone before that. I can ask around as well if you want?" 

"Yeah sure." Niall agrees but he doesn't expect anything to come from it.  

"I gotta be honest, at first I thought this would be a really stupid idea but now I really want to see it work out. It can't imagine what it will be like, but it has to be hilarious."  

It takes Niall a beat to answer.  

"I know I said it before, but you can tag along if you want? And you're free the next couple of days. I'm being serious." he tells Zayn. 

"Really?" Zayn asks. 

"Yeah, of course. The more people the better. We have hired actors to play our family and loved ones but it's not the same really. It's nice to have people there that I know. And the party afterwards will not be fake, I can tell you that. Especially with Nick coming."  

Zayn doesn't need much more convincing than that really. Within minutes Niall and him have talked out all the details of it. There is still room in the rental car, of course, and Zayn even gets a free room in the same hotel Niall, Harry and Nick are staying. It is quite late when Niall finally goes to bed. The worrying over the wedding having lessened a bit by the knowledge that people he knows and likes will be there as well. Worst case right now is a really expensive party in Vegas with an Elvis impersonator. 

The next morning greets Niall again with the smell of food and coffee in the air. This time Harry had made waffles. Even Zayn is up already, hungrily devouring everything on his plate as if this is the last time in a while he will see real food. Maybe it really is and he is making the most out of it. The three of them have got nothing planned for the day, except for doing sightseeing-y things like a group of tourists. Harry wants to go and take a hike in the canyon but he quickly gets his choice taken out of the race, when neither Niall nor Zayn are up for a hike in 25 degree weather. Harry pouts for about a minute but immediately regains his smile when Zayn suggests Disneyland. No matter what, he is a child at heart and Niall should have had the idea sooner. They could have skipped the whole discussion all together.  

Zayn again drives them and they spent the whole day at the park. Harry goes on all the rides until he is possibly green in the face. Then he sticks to holding the bags while Niall joins Zayn on a few more. They eat overpriced hotdogs and other theme park food and drink too many American soft drinks, until all they can taste is sugar. When the sun goes down and it finally gets a little bit cooler they take a last stroll through the park before heading home.  

Niall brings Harry up to speed on Zayn coming with them to Vegas on the drive back and they set up a departure time. 10am is on the early side for Zayn but since Harry had already agreed to drive before Zayn had joined them, it means he can pass out in the backseat as soon as they hit the motorway. If Zayn sleeps the whole five hour drive, no one will complain. A sleepy Zayn isn't a happy Zayn, after all.  

Niall is already lying in bed, his teeth brushed and everything, when he thinks should give it one last try to find someone to participate in his video. He opens his notes on his phone and quickly types out a message saying how desperate he is and how he needs to find someone willing to marry him in a fake wedding ceremony, all expenses paid, the person just needs to be in Vegas or be able to go there by tomorrow evening. He then takes a screenshot of the message and posts it to his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with the email address people can use to contact him about it. Niall switches his phone off, before he can check the replies on purpose and instead joins Harry in the land of the sleeping.  

It's a shrill alarm tone that wakes Niall the next day. The bed is already empty, but the curtains are still dawn. In the dark, Niall grabs his phone and quickly skims through his emails. There are some really weird offers, again, as some people seem to have different definition of what "serious offers only" means. There are a few emails that look professional, but the people are only asking whether the time is fixed already, because they would love to do it, but they aren't free this weekend. Then a message on his Facebook messenger pops up. His fans haven't been able to message him on there for years, after it became too much, only people he actually knows can, but rarely anyone does. After all, who uses Facebook when you can just text? Figuring it's probably his aunt, asking for an update on his trip, he opens the message. At first, he doesn't recognise the name, and it takes second for him to connect the name Louis Tomlinson to  _Louis_. When he does, his stomach does a flip. Niall almost snaps his back with how fast he sits up to read the message carefully.  

 _Hey_ _,_ _Niall! How have you been? I just read your appeal for the video and while I think it sound mad_ _… I really want to do_ _it_ _?_ _If you still haven't found_ _anyone_ _._ _I am technically_ _married_ _._ _(_ _Long_ _story ,_ _i_ _t's just easier living and working here) Just let me know_ _? I don't what else to_ _write_ _,_ _this a weird message_ _. But I'm free this weekend and I can drive up to_ _Vegas_ _._ _xx Louis_  

Niall rereads the message three times to make sure he has understood it completely and that it actually said what he had read. Then he lets out a loud whoop that would have woken the whole house, had anyone still been asleep. It's Zayn that knocks on the door and enters immediately. 

"What are you shouting for?" he asks, again dressed in that sweatpants, tank top and beanie combo.  

"I found someone! I'm getting married tomorrow!" Niall shouts and jumps out of the bed. The rash of adrenaline the message gave him works better than any coffee or energy drink ever could and suddenly he is awake and ready to take on the world. A huge weight has been lifted off of him now that he finally has made all the pieces fit together. From here on out, making the video will be a piece of cake.  

Zayn congratulates him with the voice of someone who would sell his first-born child to get another hour of sleep. But there is a smile on his face and Niall quickly learned that Zayn's face betrays this mysterious persona he created. Zayn is actually a giant nerd with many feelings and happiness is one he feels quite easily. He's a ball of sunshine trying to hide behind a wall of indifference to protect himself from this cruel world.  

Niall quickly replies to Louis, letting him know all of the details and thanking him about a million times for doing this.  

With that burst of energy, taking a shower and getting dressed takes no time at all. Within minutes Niall is sitting at the breakfast table, the hair at the back of his neck still dripping a bit. Harry is preparing sandwiches right in front of him but looks up when Niall has finished poring coffee in a cup.  

"Zayn told me you finally got a reply? Are you sure this person is serious?" Harry says, all the while continuing cutting up an apple into slices.  

Had it been anyone other than Louis, Niall would have hesitated, but he can't help but trust him. He tells Harry as much.  

"Well then… congrats, you're getting married tomorrow. I guess I own Nick 20 quid." 

"You fucking bet against me?" Niall squawks with indignation . 

"You were planning on marrying a stranger. Of course I bet against that. It's insane."  

"Some best friend, you are." Niall says as he nicks a slice of apple.  

"Heeeey, those are for the ride." Harry swats his hand away. 

Zayn comes back from his shower a while later and joins them in their last preparations. Niall had his bag packed the day before already and does a last check of the room so his anxiety about having left something will be as small as possible. Harry had called the rental company already and cancelled the car as Zayn offered up his own car. With the money they saved on that, they plan on having a small last-minute stag night when they get to Vegas.  

And the they are driving into Vegas. The five-hour drive has passed in a heartbeat with all three of them singing along at the top of their lungs to the radio. Zayn had abandoned sleeping through the ride in favour of telling them about the landmarks they drove past. Even when the only thing that could be seen from the car was the dusty side of the road in the middle of the desert, Zayn had some facts about the surroundings ready. If the music thing doesn't work out, Zayn could always start making his own documentaries, Niall tells him before they launch into another song.  

Niall gets a text from Nick when they are almost at the hotel, telling him that everything worked out perfectly and that he is waiting in Harry's room now.  

Niall forces Harry to handle the check in, faking an important conversation he has to have with Zayn. When he tells him about Nick being up in Harry's room, Zayn smiles and immediately offers to film it. Harry wouldn't be suspicious at all, Zayn had his camera on for a bit in the car already. What Harry does think is weird, is that Zayn insist on following him and Niall to his hotel room, as he knows Zayn's room is on a different floor. But Zayn manages to calm his suspicion by telling him he just wants to get s shot of them all together. It's trickier to get Harry to unlock the door. 

"Ni, can you get the door please? I'm almost dropping my bag." Harry says as he is visibly struggling with his large brown overnight bag, as well as two luggage trolleys.  

"Erm …" Niall mutters. "My hands are kinda full?" It's not technically a lie but he only has his small backpack, Zayn is pushing his trolley.  

Harry's brow furrows. 

"You're not, though?"  

"Can't you just unlock the door, Harry? You're right in front of it." Niall asks again. 

"I would, but I literally don't have a free hand. The card is in my back pocket because you refused to check in. Just take it and unlock the door." he grumbles. 

In all this, Zayn remains quiet and his camera trained on Harry and the door.  

"Harry, please … just open it." Niall pleads one last time. 

With a muttered curse Harry drops his bag and gets the card out of his back pocket.  

"Niall, you fucking…"  

He doesn't get further, as right behind the door, Nick is standing and grinning back at all three of them.  

"Hiya, love." He smiles. 

"What?!" Harry rips his head around so fast, Niall worries about the state of his neck.  

"Don't I get a kiss?" Nick says as he opens his arms. Harry walks forward and wraps his arms around his boyfriend but it looks like it is more an automatic response than anything else. His head is still turned towards Niall and Zayn and his eyes widen when he notices Zayn grinning back at him from behind the camera.  

"You knew about it?" he breaks into a laugh on the last syllable and finally hugs Nick back properly, nuzzling his face into Nick's neck.  

"Surprise, I guess." Niall says.  

There is some more hugging and laughing and friendly name calling until the four of them pile into the room. Niall explains that he actually got himself another room on the other end of the floor, and that Nick is staying until after the wedding.  

"But why?" Harry asks once they are all sitting on the big bed in the middle of the room. "Don't get me wrong, I love that you're here. But flying out for three days just to see me? That's … mad." He finishes with a smile. Niall hasn't seen Harry smile this much for days. His dimples are on full display.  

"I know we said we don't need to get married to show that we love each other… but I wanted to still do a big gesture? To show you, that I'm …" Nick shoots a look at the camera. "this is a bit awkward with the camera, but I guess I just wanted to show you that I love you and that I'd do anything for you. Forever and all that." He finishes.  

There are tears in Harry's eyes and Niall has to admit, his eyes do sting a bit as well. 

Now that Nick is here, Niall wants to give Harry and him some time to themselves. It's even better now that Zayn is with them, as he immediately offers to come with Niall to meet the Elvis impersonator that will do the ceremony, so Niall won't have to awkwardly talk with the camera in his hand.  

The Elvis guy is actually called Liam and so much younger than Niall had imagine. If Niall had met the crinkle eyed, smiling teddybear of a man on the streets, he wouldn't have guessed, that his actual full-time job was "Elvis impersonator". Liam greets them in a small office room at the chapel Niall chose. He's dressed in loose sweatpants and a white t-shirt, his brown hair falling softly down his forehead. 

"I'm wearing it gelled back most of the time anyway, so when I'm not in costume, I pretty much just let it be the way it is." Liam explains after he catches Niall looking quizzically at his head for too long.  

It quickly turns out that Liam is just a normal bloke, trying to save up some money before going to college. Niall can hear him an Zayn talk about music they both like, while he sets up the camera and mic to get a quick interview filmed with him. 

"So, I just talk about my job?" Liam confirms again. 

"Yeah, just tell my why you do it, what you like and maybe share a funny story?" Niall shrugs.  

Liam isn't shy and keeps talking and talking, giving Niall loads of prime material he will be able to use in the video. He's quite funny as well and Niall likes him immediately. He's glad that it will be Liam doing the ceremony the next day.  

Niall gets back to the hotel in the early evening and squeezes in a shower before he goes to collect Zayn, Harry and Nick from their rooms. The four of them pile into a cab and head out for a nice dinner and then a couple of drinks at a cocktail bar, sort of like a stag do. They are sitting in a small booth at the bar, Harry and Nick opposite of Niall and Zayn. Nick has one arm casually slung over the armrest behind Harry, letting everyone know what is his. Harry is leaning his head against Nick' shoulder, looking like he is unaware of his surroundings but halfway through his third drink Harry snatches Niall's phone from his hands.  

"Can you please stop that, please? Who is more important than us?" He says, a real pout on his face. He might be only on his third, but Harry's tolerance for alcohol is famously low. A fact that usually leads to a lot of amusement among his friends. Drunk Harry is hilarious. 

Niall immediately jumps but even with the drinks slowing Harry down, Niall still isn't fast enough and Harry is already looking at the screen. 

"Ohhhhh" Harry coos, "it's Louis. You're texting Louis." 

"Yeah? So what?" Niall crosses his arms in front of his chest. "What about it?" 

"What are you getting so defensive about?" Nick throws in. "Who's Louis? Is there someone new in his life?" Nick turns to Harry. "What about that tall Irish lad? The other Niall?"  

"Louis is the guy Niall is going to marry tomorrow." Zayn helpfully throws in. 

"But tell Nick about how Louis took Niall out for lunch before that." Harry says with a smile. 

"It was just a friendly thing to do!" Niall exclaims. 

"Yeah, right."  Nick laughs. "Oh, he's quite fit." Nick adds after having opened Louis' profile picture. He shows it around the table. 

"Niall you didn't say that he's this handsome." Zayn elbows Niall. 

"You're straight." 

"Yeah, but not blind?" he shrugs.  

It takes another couple of minutes and teasing before Niall manages to get hold of his phone again. He reckons he should be glad that no one of his friends is drunker than they are, or they might have texted something embarrassing to Louis. And it's not like there is anything going on anyway. Niall had just been talking to Louis about the wedding. Mostly. The last couple of hours they had moved on to talking about stupid things. Niall's last message had been a selfie of him with his first pint. He's still waiting for a reply. Not  _waiting_ waiting obviously. Obviously.  

There is still no reply when Niall goes to sleep a couple of hours later, only slightly tipsy. 

*** 

Niall wakes up before his alarm the next morning. He is buzzing with some kind of energy, ready for the day. Louis is set to arrive around noon, he should already be in the car and on the way.  

Breakfast is a quiet affair, just Niall and Zayn as Harry rejected Niall's call three time before sending him a text saying to calm the fuck down, he is awake but busy.  

Niall isn't too worried, as technically he doesn't need Harry until it's time to set up for the wedding. There is nothing to do actually until Louis arrives. Maybe Niall should go back to sleep or otherwise relax, but he can't. He is almost shaking with the need to do something. Zayn had gone straight back to bed after breakfast. 

Louis had replied to Niall picture in the morning, apologising for falling asleep. Niall had woken up to the apology and a blurry picture of Louis in hiss bed. His hair is a mess and the duvet is drawn up over his chest, not really hiding the fact that he is shirtless.  

Only a couple more hours to go. 

*** 

Time flies and before Niall knows it he is dressed up in his suit and shaking slightly while fixing his tie in front of the full body mirror inside the chapel's dressing room. Harry did all of the pre-wedding interviews with Louis, so he hasn't seen either of them in hours. Louis had arrived on time but other than a short half hug as a greeting, Niall barely had had any time with him. He had gone ahead to the chapel to set up the cameras with Harry and Zayn. There was also the matter of the rental suit for him and Louis he had taken care off.  

Now that the time has come, the whole situation seems unreal. Harry promised to check in with him before the ceremony but if he doesn't show up soon, Niall will have to walk out alone. He doesn’t know why he feels this nervous. Most of his thoughts revolve around whether Louis will like his tie. He picked out a blue one, to bring out his eyes which now seems stupid. Louis won't really care, Niall reminds himself, since this isn't actually a real wedding.  _Fucking Elvis_  will officiate the ceremony. But somehow Niall's brain didn't get the message and he wonders if his dad felt like that before he married his mum.  

Three times Niall tries to snap a quick selfie for his Instagram followers, before he gives up and just posts the blurred picture, captioning it "surprise". He adds a couple of wedding themed gifs to the image, hoping to keep his fans on edge for a couple of hours.  

Harry comes through the door just as Niall wonders whether this wedding chapel is selling alcohol. He'd kill for a pint right about now.  

"Niall, look at you. Quite the handsome groom." He comments before letting out a whistle.  

Niall tires to smile confidently but he thinks it ends up looking rather constipated than anything else.  

"Is my tie straight?" Niall asks. He can't tell anymore. He redid it about ten times. 

Only when Niall turns around he spots the camera in Harry's hand. Of course, Harry is filming this. That's the whole point. Harry places the camera on a nearby table, making sure that both of them are inside the shot.  

"Oh my god Nialler. You're actually shaking, come here." 

Niall lets out a hysterical laugh but lets his body be manoeuvred by Harry, so he can adjust his tie. When Harry hugs him afterwards he just wraps his arms around tightly and inhales Harry's familiar scent. It's calming. He doesn't feel as weirded out anymore.  

"I didn't think I'd be affected this much by this, okay. It's mad." 

"You can still back out now, you know?" Harry murmurs quietly.  

But that's not exactly true, is it? The chapel is booked, Liam/Elvis is ready and somewhere, in a room similar to this, Louis is waiting. Louis who gave up spending the day with his son, so he could help with this video and Niall doesn't want all of this to be for nothing. Also, he will have spent two days filming with nothing to show for it really and that would simply be unprofessional. So, he will just have to suck it up and fake marry this handsome stranger with the pretty eyes. There are worse jobs, Niall tells himself.  

If Niall was feeling emotional before, it's nothing compared to when Louis enters the chapel. Even from far away Niall can see the double take Louis does when he turns around the corner and spots Niall waiting there for him. Niall is weirdly pleased. They had agreed that Louis gets to walk the aisle, since he didn't get to do it at his first wedding. Harry is walking down ahead of him, throwing rose petals about, a flower crown sitting lightly on top of his head. He seems to be in his element if the big dopey grin on his face is anything to go by.  

Niall knows that there is music playing, music he chose for the occasion, but it is drowned out by the rushing sound and his own heartbeat in his ears. Louis looks mesmerising. His suit matches his complexion, the smile on his lips makes his eyes crinkle and his eyes are trained on Niall. Rational thought leaves Niall's mind and it feels like this is real. Niall ignores the strangers in the audience of the church. In this moment, Louis walking up to him is all that matters. Niall keeps his eyes fixed on Louis, even as he is coming to a halt in front of him. The smile on lips broadens and Niall can't help himself but whispers a quiet "beautiful". The resulting blush on Louis' cheeks will stay in his mind forever, he thinks. 

Liam, or rather Elvis, rips Niall from his thoughts when he coughs slightly, getting both their attention. Louis takes a step back and turn his head away at last.  

The ceremony in itself doesn't last much longer than 15 minutes. Since it is Elvis officiating, the vows are less traditional and more  _I will never ever leave you, baby._  Both Niall and Louis crack up from laughter during it. Then it's Liam's turn to speak again. 

"By the power vested in me, by the State of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may seal your love with a kiss."  

And Niall's heart stops for a second. The wedding kiss. How could he have forgotten the wedding kiss? He turns away from Liam the same time that Louis turns to face him. Uncertainty is written all over Louis' features, something that Niall is sure is mirrored in his face. Against his better judgement he lets his eyes drop to Louis' lips. They look plush and soft and more than inviting. All Niall wants to do is capture them with his own, find out how Louis tastes. They should have had a talk about it before hand. Niall doesn't even know if Louis is single, really. He is legally married for fuck's sake. But Louis isn't pulling away. On the contrary, he is slowly closing his eyes and leaning in. Niall reaches up with one hand to cup Louis' face and presses their lips together for a few blissful seconds. The kiss is tame, their lips jus lightly slotted together before Niall is pulling back. There is, however, a tingling in his lips that stays with him long after the kiss ends. Louis opens his eyes and flashes him a brilliant smile. 

"Okay?" Niall whispers. 

"Yeah. Yeah definitely." Louis blushes and Niall can feel the heat rushing to his cheeks. It reminds him that his hand is still holding Louis' face and he lets it drop quickly.  

The sounds of the chapel bells slowly find their way into Niall's mind and after another few moments Niall registers the cheers and clapping inside the room. He turns towards the pews and looks into the celebrating audience. Harry and Zayn both have their camera pointed at him and Nick lets out a couple of whistles. The actors in the audience are doing their job well, some of them even have tears in their eyes.  

"Let me now introduce the first dance for Niall and Louis Horan-Tomlinson." Elvis says and the room quietens down immediately as the first notes of a piano fill the room.  

 _Wise men say_  

 _Only fools rush in_  

 _But I can't help_  

 _Falling in love with you …._  

Despite the fact that Niall knows he can't dance for shit, he takes Louis' arm and puts them around his shoulders, setting down his own high on Louis' waist. Their swaying could not really be described as a dance, but for some reason Niall's heart is still beating out of his chest.  

"You actually did it." Louis giggles quietly.  

"Didn't think I would?" Niall says back. 

"Dunno, seemed like a mad idea." Louis replies quietly. 

"Guess I am a mad man then." 

"Guess you are then." Louis almost whispers, and Niall can feel his breath brushing his neck. The feeling sends a shiver down his sides and he is glad that with the suit, no one is able to see the goosebumps on his arms.  

 _But I can't help … falling in love … with you._  

The song ends before Niall is ready to let go. Maybe this is how method actors feel, he thinks, because his mind is totally in the role of a newly wedded husband and something is telling him to not release Louis from the embrace. He has to though, as Harry comes over and claps him on the back. 

"You fucking did it!" he shouts over the noise of the rest of the people gathering their stuff. 

Zayn and Nick follow soon after him, showering both him and Louis with congratulations as if it were a real wedding. There is confetti being thrown and then Louis even gets a flower bouquet handed. He closes his eyes and throws it over his shoulder, managing to hit Nick in the head with it, before one of the actor girls grabs it and raises her arm in the air to show everyone. It's just one cliché after the other and Niall loves it.  

***

"Look at them and their fucking smiles. It's disgusting." Niall elbows Louis in the ribs to get his attention.  

On the dance floor Harry and Nick are dancing. Proper ballroom dancing with everything that comes with it. At one point, Nick even tries to dip Harry. He drops him, but at least he tried. They keep giggling every time they step on each other's toes and their eyes never leave the other's face.  

"You're full of shit, Niall. You love it. You're just envious, I can tell." Louis says.  

"True." Niall snorts. "I'm a romantic at heart." 

"I bet you can't wait to meet your soulmate and be the best boyfriend and husband the world has ever seen."  

"Well… yeah. That's why I'm doing this whole series on marriage." 

"Any marriage material back at home?" Louis asks quieter than before. 

"God, no. Haven't been on a proper date in like … a year. What about you?" Niall asks, just out of curiosity.  

One of Louis' eyebrows rises.  

"Mate, I live with my wife," he uses air quotes "and have a two-year-old son. I don't even know what a date is anymore."  

"So you and her aren't dating then?" Niall tries to not sound too excited at the prospect of it.  

"Nope. Would never work. She is … nice. But that's it."  

"Cheers to that. Dateless losers, we are." Niall raises his glass. 

"Don't get me wrong, I'd never regret Freddie. He's the most important person in my life and I wouldn't change having him for anything. It's just hard dating when most people our age aren't looking for something long term and serious and those are the only things I can give them. I don't want to date anyone who, in a couple of months will figure out that they aren't ready to settle down, you know? I'd be down for a hook-up maybe but like … it's not easy finding someone when you have a toddler with you." Louis grins.  

"So, you haven't gotten off with anyone in over two years, is what you're saying."  

"This is what you're focusing on?" Louis asks incredulously. "Okay fine, yes, the last time another person was involved in my orgasm … my son was the result."  

Niall cackles and throws his arm around Louis to pull him closer to his side.  

"We'll find someone, I'm sure of it. But until then, get drunk maybe?" He doesn't wait for Louis to respond and instead starts dragging him towards the bar. What is an open bar good for besides drinking enough to make you regret it in the morning. And it technically is their wedding, so if they don't get pissed they are doing everything wrong in Niall's opinion. But Louis lets himself get dragged along easily, knowing that he as all the time to be hungover tomorrow before he heads back to LA in the evening.  He probably is going to take advantage of the fact that he doesn't have to take care of his son. 

Niall orders two beers and four shots at the bar, winking at Louis once he hands him his drinks. They have one shot immediately – something strong that burns down the back of their throats, Niall had told the barman to surprise him – and take the other with them to find a table outside the hotel. It has cooled down significantly since this afternoon and Niall shivers in his suit. It doesn't stop him from dropping down onto the low-rise sofa chair things next to Louis, spilling some of his beer onto Louis' thigh. Niall instantly puts down his drinks on the table in front of him and grabs some of the paper napkins to dab Louis' trousers dry. He is gripping Louis' thigh with one hand, while the other is running up and down the inside of it, pressing down hard to get the beer soaked up. It's not until Louis stiffens that Niall realises that this might be just a bit inappropriate. He retracts his hands quickly as if he had been burned.  

"Sorry!" he stammers out, the heat rising to his cheeks. 

"No, no, it's fine like … I just got sensitive thighs, is all." Louis mumbles, clearly embarrassed himself.  

Niall doesn't know what to do with that information, but it certainly makes him feel something. He has had just enough beer to run with his imagination about Louis' sensitive thighs before he comes to his senses.  

"Another shot?" Niall asks quickly. "To us losers." 

They clink their glasses and drown the liquid quickly, Louis shaking visibly as he quickly takes a big swig from his beer to chase it with. 

"Mate, I just realised that my first wedding will always be a fake wedding." Niall mutters a moment later.  

"My first  _two_  weddings were fake, Nialler, I think I have the title of biggest loser here." Louis says. After that they are quiet as they both just sit and look out into the desert. With all the lights coming from the city, there is barely a star to be seen. The night's sky is an ugly greyish colour, a mix of smog and light pollution. How might it look if they drove 50 miles out into the nothing, Niall wonders. Far away from the lights and noise of the city it must be beautiful he decides at last. While Niall had been busy staring into the sky, Louis had thrown his arm around the back of the sofa making it easy for Niall to drop his head on Louis' shoulder. Just for a moment, he tells himself.  

"What'cha thinking about?" Louis asks after a while. 

"How small the stars make me feel."  

"What stars?" Louis snorts as he looks up. 

"Well, they are still there, we just can't see them all the time, right? So we have to rely on our ability to trust and believe that they still exist and are still as beautiful. And then, when we get out of the city the next time, they take our breath away, because event though we know what they look like, our imagination can never even come close to the real thing. I think that's pretty cool."  

Louis hums then answers a beat later. 

"I think love is similar in a way." 

Niall let's his eyes fall shut and waits for Louis to go on. 

"Just like… in the way that when you don't feel it, you think you remember what it is like, right?" Louis talks in a low voice, Niall feeling the vibrations of his chest. "And then once you actually do feel it, it just knocks you off your feet because whatever you imagined could never have come close to it. Just like you think you know what the stars look like and then you go to the countryside for the first time on a new moon night and there is no light pollution anywhere and you're almost blinded by the brilliance of the stars."  

Louis' voice is so quiet, Niall can barely hear him over the sound of the party.  

"I've never felt love like that before." He mumbles into Louis' neck.  

"Me neither, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist." 

Niall just hums in response. He keeps to himself, that in this moment, he is pretty sure he can almost feel it. It's the beer getting to him. 

"Wow, that just got real depressing and deep. Sorry." Louis chuckles as he sits up, Niall going along with it. He has a bit of a stretch and watches Louis as he gets his packet of cigarettes out of his suit jacket and lights one up. Niall is still lost in his thoughts and watches Louis take a drag and exhale a cloud of smoke. He takes in the way Louis' lips curl around the cigarette, the way his cheekbones hollow out as he sucks on it lightly. It's not a bad look, is all Niall is saying. Again it conjures up images in Niall's head of naked skin and sensitive thighs and what Louis' lips might taste like.  

A cough rips him out of it. 

"Mate? You alright?" 

"Hm?" Niall forces himself to focus on Louis' curious gaze. "Yeah, sorry." 

"You want one?" Louis waggles the cigarette. "You've been staring at it." 

Niall takes the easy way out and lights one up for himself. Not really a smoker but he can enjoy the occasional smoke without ruining his voice. Better smoke one than to admit what he had actually been looking at. They head back inside afterwards, making a pitstop at the bar. 

*** 

Around midnight the music changes. Whereas before the main genre was appropriate for ballroom dancing and conversation, now it was time for some old school club music. When Nick had agreed to come to the wedding, he had insisted on him DJing for a bit and Niall had been on board immediately. He would have wanted a DJ at his real wedding so why not have one at his fake one as well. And if Nick had already offered, he would have been a fool to decline. People are actually paying money to have Nick at their event. Freebees are always nice.  

By now, Niall is also past "pleasantly buzzed" and more on the verge of "wasted". He had been steadily drinking shots with Louis, Harry and some of the people they pretty much paid to be at the party and even his Irish heritage, which he claims gives him an advantage, is becoming useless by now. When the lights dim, and the volume rises his immediate reaction is to throw his hands up in the air, letting out a loud "Woooooooooo".  

Out of the corner of his eye Niall spots Louis and almost runs over to him only to quickly drag him to the dance floor.  

"Dance with me." He shouts into Louis' ear, trying to be heard over the music.  

For the first couple of songs they wiggle around and laugh at their terrible dance moves. Slowly the dance floor starts to fill. Harry can be seen dragging a reluctant Zayn from the bar and even Liam is nodding his head to the music on the side lines. Niall starts to get to get sweaty after a few songs and goes to lose his suit jacket. He gulps down a glass of water at the bar before heading back but stops in his tracks as he spots Louis in the middle of the crowd. Louis has stopped with the ridiculous dance moves and has started to dance in earnest. He's swivelling his hips, his arms thrown into the air, seemingly lost in the music. Niall can't help himself and keeps his gaze locked on Louis' face, his eyes closed and lips parted. It's been a while since he has been caught so off guard by someone this beautiful. There should be song written about Louis dancing and if he wasn't this drunk, he'd get his phone out and start tapping in lyrics about it. As it is, he just lets his body take over and starts walking straight up behind Louis. Louis' rhythm falters for a moment as when Niall puts his hands on Louis' hips, but he immediately starts pushing his arse back into Niall when he sees it's Niall behind him. Niall lets out a quiet groan that he hopes is swallowed up by the sound of the music.  

"Didn't know you can dance like that." He breaths into Louis' ear.  

"If I'd known that this is your reaction to it, I would have started earlier." Louis says as he leans his head back on Niall's shoulder.  

"Is this okay?" Niall whispers back. It takes all of his self-control to not let his lips drag over the skin on Louis' neck.  

"Fuck yeah!" Louis pushes his hips back once more to emphasise his point.  

The pressure on his crotch makes Niall dizzy for a second and he has to close his eyes to regain his sanity. The truth is, it had been a while since he had been with someone like that and Louis isn't making it easy on him. If they had met in a club, just two guys looking for someone to get off with, Niall would have found the nearest wall already to press Louis up against it. Or be pressed up against it. Niall isn't really picky. But the fact is that they didn't meet in a club and that this is technically still part of Niall's shoot. He's paying Louis to be here for God's sake and he knows that Harry is somewhere around with a camera in his hand, still filming. A small part of Niall hopes Harry actually gets some of this on video, just so he can relive this moment forever. Not that he is likely to forget this anytime soon. Niall reckons the best he can do is take whatever he can get and not think about it too much. Thinking about what they are doing would ruin it.  

Niall starts to grip Louis' hips harder, moving his own to the rhythm of the song. He'll have to thank Nick tomorrow for the excellent choice of music. When Louis doesn't show any signs of discomfort to Niall's doings – quite the opposite actually – Niall lets his hands roam Louis' torso. He keeps on hand flat on Louis' stomach, just above the waistband, pressing him back against him while the other trails slowly upwards, feeling the muscles under Louis' shirt as he goes along. Louis might not look like it, but Niall can feel the outline of a strong chest and a flat stomach. When his hand reaches Louis' collarbones, just edging on his throat, he can  _feel_  Louis moan, a low rumble. At this point, Niall is half hard in his trousers and Louis must be able to feel it, his hips still swivelling against his crotch. Niall desperately wants to know whether he is the only one to feel this way. He needs to know. Checking his surroundings quickly, he makes sure no one is watching them before he lets his hand slowly drag down and over the waistband. He's pressing the heel of his palm into Louis, letting it drag over his crotch. Louis' hips surge forward when Niall finds what he is looking for. Definitely not the only one then. This decides it for Niall. He quickly spins Louis around so he can look into his face. Even in the dark, with all the flashing lights, he can see Louis' blown up pupils, the way his lips glisten where he has been biting them the whole time.  

"Louis." Niall breaths out, not really sure what he is asking.  

Louis closes his eyes for a moment before nodding and taking Niall's hand. Before Niall can be confused he is being pulled along, stumbling after Louis through the crowd. He has no idea where they are going but Louis seems to have a plan and Niall will not waste careful seconds asking about it. Louis drags Niall along until he finds an unlocked door and shoves Niall inside. 

"By the power vested in me by Elvis, I declare that you can shag me." Louis slurs. "If you want to, that is. Husbands still need consent." He adds.  

And Niall really wants to. It takes Niall a moment to adjust to the darkness in the room. The only light seems to be coming from a single window, high up on one wall. The other walls are occupied by shelves with dish soaps and other cleaning supplies. A supply closet then.  

Niall nods eagerly and the next moment Louis pulls Niall forward against him. Niall stumbles a bit before their lips connect. It's a bit harsh and awkward for a second before both men can rearrange their balance and really get control back over their actions. Niall's hands fly to Louis' face, cradling him and pulling him closer as he connects their lips again and again. Louis moves to Niall's hips, fisting his hands in Niall's shirt to pull him closer and closer. It's desperate, that's the only way to describe it. The way Louis’ lips slide over his, starting out just a bit hesitant, as if he cannot believe what he is doing. Soon enough thought he starts getting bolder, nibbling at Niall’s bottom lip, letting his tongue run over it. He is pushing closer to Niall and Niall has to take a step back until his back hits a wall. A low breathy gasp escapes him when Louis’ body crashes against him. Louis takes advantages of Niall opening his mouth and lets the tip of his tongue slip in. He opens his mouth farther, giving Louis the unspoken consent, he has been waiting for. They slow their kiss down and take the time to explore each other’s mouths. Niall moves his hands from Louis' face to his hips and uses them to pull Louis against himself. Louis is desperate to hold on to something, grabbing Niall by the shoulders and hair, angling his head to give him better access. He pulls on Niall's hair and Niall can’t stop the moan escaping his lips. They keep kissing, their heavy breathing being the only sound that can be heard inside the room. He cannot tell how long the kiss goes on for, he loses complete track of time. It could be just seconds or minutes. Somewhere along the kiss changes again and grows more heated. Louis slots one of his thighs between Niall’s legs and the friction it generates on Niall's hard cock makes him moan. Niall rocks his hips up involuntarily. He does not seem to be the only one in this predicament though, he can feel the outline of Louis’ hard cock rutting against his thigh. Louis will be the death of him. Niall can’t remember a time where he was this turned on. He still cannot do anything against rubbing his crotch against Louis’ thigh. It is not enough to get him off, but it is enough to drive him crazy. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that at any point someone could come into the room, but he still doesn’t stop. Niall moves his lips from Louis’ mouth in order to kiss down his neck. He needs to suck and bite or he will go crazy. Louis lets out a whimper at first already missing Niall’s lips, but that whimper turns into a high-pitched moan the second Niall's teeth bite the soft skin of his neck. Niall is doing his best to minimalise the force of the bite. He makes sure not to suck too hard afterwards as well, not wanting to leave visible marks. He still has a bit of rationality left to realise leaving visible marks on Louis would generate questions. Louis keeps moaning onto Niall’s ear and the sound goes straight to his cock. With his last shred of will power Niall pushes Louis away from him. 

"Stop." he breathes. "We ... need to stop." 

He opens his eyes to look at Louis. The image does nothing to soothe his dirty thoughts. 

Louis looked truly edible. His lips are dark pink and puffy, wetness reflection the low light. He has his eyes half closed, as if it would be too much to keep them open. Like Niall, his whole body is heaving with the force of his heavy breathing. Niall can see some dark marks on Louis’ neck, but he doesn't feel sorry, not even one bit. Louis’ tight trousers do nothing to hide his erection.  

"I ... fuck." Niall whispers. 

“Yeah.. same.” Louis puts his hand next to Niall’s head.  

Niall runs his hands through his hair. He is feeling dizzy and hot all over. His trousers are uncomfortably tight right now and Niall resists the urge to adjust his pants. Louis is still close to him and all Niall can smell is Louis, his shower gel mixed with just a hint of sweat. It’s addiction, to say the least. He raises one of his hands to Louis’ cheek and runs his thump over Louis’ lips which part under his finger. 

“Louis..” Niall doesn’t know what he is saying. He needs something but he cannot quite name it. Words elude him as he continues to breathe Louis in.  

Louis sucks the tip of Niall’s finger into his mouth for a second, running his tongue over the tip of the pad of his thumb. It makes Niall’s cock twitch.  

Louis takes a step back. 

“Can I blow you?” Louis breathes out.  

"Yes… No… I want ... but.." Niall has no idea what he is saying. He wants to get Louis close again but he is not sure if the supply closest in the hotel lobby is the best place for that.  

"Tell me if you're not okay with something, okay?" Louis whispers gently. 

Niall nods, not fighting it. 

Everything stops to matter when Louis kneels down in front of him and starts to undo this trousers. There is nothing fast about his movements, just pure dedication. He opens Niall’s button and fly before pulling Niall’s trousers down to his mid thighs. Louis runs is hands softly up and down the exposed parts of Niall’s thighs. Niall can’t help himself but look down on Louis. In the pale light all he can see is the silhouette of Louis’ features, his delicate cheek bones, the shadow his eyelashes cast on them, his lips slightly parted. Louis takes one hand and presses in against Niall erection through his tight boxer briefs. Niall groans at the touch. Louis wastes no time before taking the head into his hot mouth. Niall throws his forearm over his mouth and bites it hard to swallow the sounds he wants to make. Louis has only just started and this is already the hottest blow job of his life. Louis sucks the head for a while, letting his tongue massage the sensitive underside of Niall's cock. Niall risks a quick look down and the sight almost makes him come on the spot. Louis   looking up at him, holding onto Niall’s thighs with his hands. Niall whines again and fucks forward into Louis' mouth. He hears Louis sputter and goes to apologise but Louis shakes his head quickly and takes a deep breath in through his nose before slowly moving his head forward until his nose hits Niall's pubic hair. When Louis swallows around Niall, Niall thinks he is seeing stars. He moves one of his hands to grab at Louis’ hair and slowly pulls Louis back. Tears have formed in Louis’ eyes and Niall cannot believe Louis is letting him do this. It takes so much trust and he has only known him for about a week. When Louis has had enough time to take a breath again Niall pushes him down again. He is going slowly, never looking away from Louis and giving him the chance to back out at any moment. But Louis just lets out a low moan and the vibrations are killing Niall. He starts to fuck Louis’ mouth, starting slowly but picking up speed when Louis does nothing to stop him. Within a short time, he is close to coming and he lets Louis know. But Louis just takes one of his hands from Niall’s thigh and moves back until only the head of Niall's cock is in his mouth. He uses the hand to jerk Niall off, never letting his eyes leave Niall's. Within seconds Niall is shooting down Louis’ throat. Biting his forearm again as not to let anyone outside hear him Niall slides down the wall, feeling too warm and fuzzy to continue standing up. Louis is still kneeling on the floor opposite of Niall now. It takes Niall a few moments to remember Louis. His own orgasm has made him forget all about him. He moves to return the favour and Louis starts to protest. "You don't have to." before Niall shuts him up. 

"You think this is a chore? Please let me." Niall almost begs. 

Louis whines and nods and Niall gets his hands down his trousers immediately. God, he wishes he could taste Louis, really take his time and spread him out on the bed. He wants to know what Louis likes, what makes him beg; wants to find out how he looks all blissed out at the moment of orgasm. This is likely going to be their only chance and Niall wants to make it count. He stops his movements but keeps his hand loosely gripped around Louis' cock. Louis' eyes fly open. 

"Fuck, don't tease me." He whines. 

"Sorry… I just thought …" Niall takes a moment to collect himself. "I just thought … if you wanted to, we could go up to my hotel room? I could fuck you? Or you could fuck me?" 

Louis' answer is a groan. 

"Is that a yes?" Niall asks, keeping his hand where it is. 

Louis nods enthusiastically and breaths out a yes, before pulling Niall into a deep kiss. God, his lips and tongue are amazing, Niall thinks as he lets himself be kissed. When the break apart they quickly sort out their clothes, running their hands through their hair, just making sure they don't look like what they just did. Niall has the sneaking suspicion that Harry would not exactly approve of it and he doesn't want to disappoint his best friend. At least he doesn't want to see Harry's big green eyes look at him judgingly. 

Louis is the first one to slip out of the supply closet., holding the door open for Niall when he deems it safe to come out. While Niall had been feeling the effects of the alcohol earlier, the whole thing seems to have sobered him up quite a bit and he is delighted to find out the he isn't even dizzy anymore. Louis is hopping on the way to the elevators. Honest to god hopping and Niall is endeared beyond belief. 

Niall's room is on the 15th floor, high enough to have a nice view with the elevator ride just being this side of too long with his claustrophobia. He opens the door and switches on the light before asking Louis to come in. Once again Niall is glad that he is a very clean person in general and so he doesn't have to apologise for the mess as he asks Louis to have a seat on the bed; the room being too small (and cheap) to have another seating option. Louis doesn't seem to mind, just toes off his shoes by the door and drops down, a content smile on his face. Niall offers him something from the minibar, but Louis shakes his head, says that he is fine, so Niall takes out a bottle of water and has a few sips before handing it to Louis. Staying hydrated is important he reminds him with a grin. Louis just snorts but has a drink anyway before they settle back down in silence.  

"So," Niall says, turning to Louis. "Are you sure? Like I won't judge or anything if you had changed your mind. We can do whatever, just cuddle and sleep." he says, knowing full well that sometimes you say stuff when you're turned on that you might regret later.  

"Oh, you think you're getting out of giving me an orgasm? Nah, I don't think so, mister." Louis elbows him. "Unless you changed your mind of course, in which case, cuddling and sleep sounds perfect." he adds a bit quieter. 

Niall doesn't say anything to that and instead puts his hand on Louis' cheek to pull him into a kiss.   

The kiss is slower than all their kisses before, the urgency gone. Niall feels like he has all the time in the world to really get to know Louis lips, to memorise the taste of him. They stay kissing like that until Louis starts to make all sorts of sighing noises and Niall pulls back too scoot them both further up the bed to lie down completely. Once both of them are lying down comfortably, Louis immediately rolls on top of Niall, never breaking the kiss. Niall is lost in the sensations of their lips sliding together effortlessly, the only sounds in the room their occasional moans. It's been so long since Niall had last gotten to do this and he can't imagine ever wanting to stop. He'll take whatever Louis will give him, isn't thinking about tomorrow at all. Their kissing changes again, growing more heated after a while and Niall feels himself getting hard again. The friction oh his crotch dragging against Louis is beautiful and just this side of not enough. Whenever he starts to push his hips up, Louis lifts his own, never giving him enough and only stopping the tease when Niall's moans get too breathy. 

"You're so impatient, love." Louis whispers against Niall's lips. "You'd think you weren't the one that had gotten an orgasm out of this already." He chuckles as he starts to kiss down Niall's neck. Niall can't find the words to respond, just whines when Louis sucks a love bite into his back, right above the collar.  

"You're wearing too much!" Louis says and in the next moment he is unbuttoning Niall' shirt. Louis makes Niall sit back up so he can get his shirt off completely and Niall opens his eyes to smile back at Louis. Louis is still wearing his suit jacket even and that's just not fair, isn't it? Niall should get the chance to marvel at Louis' naked chest as well and he quickly slides the jacket off and fumbles with the buttons to get Louis's shirt off. Louis takes pity on him and helps with when it becomes clear that Niall' fingers are pretty much useless in the state that he is in. 

"I hope your fingers are less clumsy when it comes to opening me up? I think you mentioned something about fucking me?" Louis says, grinding his hips down for emphasis. "Or maybe I can ride you? Just like this, make you take only what I give you?" There is a wicked grin on his lips.  

Niall wouldn't have guessed Louis to be one for dirty talk, but he is not going to complain as he very much enjoys it. If Niall had to guess, he'd say that Louis is pretty into it as well, judging by the bulge in his trousers. How Louis manages to stay so in control is beyond Niall, whose mind seems to check out the first wave of arousal all the time. He reckons they make a good match.  

They get rid of the rest of their clothes fairly quickly, if you don't count the breaks they take to kiss each other. Niall has never met anyone who was so into kissing as Louis is. When they are finally naked he has to open his eyes to fully appreciate Louis. He gets to see every tattoo on Louis' body. Like a piece of art, Louis is, he thinks. Niall is so distracted by it, he doesn't even feel self-conscious under Louis' dark gaze, just leans back and lets Louis do all the gazing he wants.  

"How do you want to do this?" Louis asks when he seems to get impatient.  

"Can I open you up?" Niall's voice cracks from prolonged disuse. 

"Yes, please. Have you got stuff?" Niall jumps up to go rummaging through his bag for the condoms and lube he knows he brought, mentally giving himself an award for his forward thinking. He is also glad that he isn't drunk anymore as he doesn't want to hurt Louis and the trust he put in Niall.  

It's been a while since Niall has gotten to do this but he still remembers the process. He slicks up his fingers and Louis gets comfortable on his back, a pillow under his back. Niall lets his finger circle Louis's entrance for a bit, loving the feeling of Louis pushing is hips up for more, before slowly pressing in. Louis has closed his eyes, and Niall can't help but stare at the beauty of it while looking for signs of discomfort. But he all he finds is a blissed out expression on Louis' face so he continues with his task. He goes slow in the beginning, barely moving his finger and just letting it glide in slowly. Louis is sighing deeply. Niall wiggles his finger around experimentally before he starts fucking it in and out at a leisurely pace. He forgot how much he loved doing this. When Louis starts to move his hips slightly, Niall thinks it's time for a second finger. He uses his free hand to stroke Louis' cock to distract him form the discomfort, then he pushes the second one in.  

"Everything okay?" Niall asks, when Louis' eyebrows stay scrunched together for too long. 

"Yeah, peachy." Louis grunts out. "Just been a while–" A moan cuts off the sentence when Niall finds Louis' prostate.  

"God, I love this. More, please. I don't wanna wait." 

But Niall won't let him self be hurried. Instead he gets some more lube and puts his lips around the tip of Louis' cock, finally tasting him. Louis, who has had his eyes closed the entire time, gasps at the surprise and Niall can't stop the smile that's forming on his face. He pushes the third finger in and continues fucking into Louis with the slow pace he set earlier. He doesn't want to overwhelm Louis, wants to stretch this out as long as possible.  

But at some point Louis' whines become too needy and Niall takes pity on him. He removes his finger completely to get a condom and slick himself up. Louis opens his eyes again with a smirk.  

"Finally." He says, sitting up. Now that Niall is no longer teasing him, some of the dominance from earlier is back in his voice and Niall's cock twitches.  

"How do you want to do this?" Niall asks while leisurely stroking his own cock to get some relieve.  

"I'd love to ride you, if you'd let me."  

As if Niall would say no to that. In a second, he is lying flat on his back, his hands already twisted into the sheets. Louis is kneeling next to him on the bed, a knowing smirk on his lips.  

"Good boy." He says and while the tone of his voice is teasing, it still makes Niall's cock twitch.  

"Interesting." Louis murmurs before stretching out his hand to get the lube. He adds a bit more to Niall's cock and rubs the excess lube down his crack. For a moment he lets his finger glide into him, Niall can tell when Louis' eyes fall shut, a sigh escaping him.  

"You did a good job, getting me ready. Very talented fingers. Must be all that guitar playing." 

Before Niall can form a response, Louis is already straddling him. The condom is on him in a second it seems. Louis gets a hand under himself and strokes Niall's cock a few times before lining it up with his hole. Niall keeps his eyes trained on Louis, watching his cock slowly disappear as he sinks down on it. He's not even trying to keep the moan on when Louis is seated all the way. It's been a while for Niall as well and he forgot how brilliant the feeling of being buried in someone is. Louis isn't even moving yet, just slowly swivelling his hips, but Niall feels so good already. He fears he will not last all too long. Once Louis starts moving for real, it is all over rather quickly, not just for Niall. Louis uses his hand to bring himself over the edge, moaning out Niall's name as he does so. Niall follows only moments after before Louis' slows down his movements and then stops completely.  

"Wow." Niall laughs at how much like a cliché he sounds. "Sorry, I just mean … that was brilliant."  

Louis slowly climbs down and discards the condom in the bathroom. He comes back with a wet towel for Niall to clean up a bit before he falls into the bed next to Niall.  

"Amazing yeah. Fuck…" he throws the blanket over both of them and turns on his side facing Niall. 

Niall smiles back at him. They lie there in silence for a bit, their breathing slowly returning to normal. Niall's mind is blank, save for the lovely moments of soft skin and breathy moans. In an ideal world, he would press Louis towards himself and fall asleep while playing with his hair. They would sleep in in the morning, complain about their head hurting over breakfast before going back to their room for a nap. Maybe Louis would wake him with kisses afterwards. Kisses that would turn into something more… But this isn't a perfect world. In this world, Louis is the one that breaks the silence and shatters the dream. 

"What happens tomorrow?" he asks, laying his head down on Niall's chest. This way he must be able to feel Niall's heartbeat picking up speed. He doesn't know what to say. 

"You go back to LA and I catch a flight to London, I guess." 

"So this is a one night stand?"  

Niall is quiet for a bit, searching his brain for any way that would make his answer into a 'no'.  

"I live in London," is what he settles on. 

"And I live in LA." Louis mumbles. "I have a son in LA." Niall can feel the vibrations of Louis' words in his chest. 

"We've only met a couple of days ago." Niall feels like he needs to state the obvious. 

"Doesn't feel that way, does it?"  

And no, no it does not. It feels like Louis has been a part of Niall's life for as long has he can remember. He would trust Louis with all of his secrets and might not know everything there is to know about Louis, but what he does know is that Louis is what he has always been looking for. Apart from the obvious fact that he is handsome, Louis is a family man in his heart. He has a son that he loves and would sacrifice everything for and is looking for something serious and long term. Niall can see himself with Louis by his side in a park, watching a blonde toddler play in front of them. All this time he had scoffed at that love at first sight bullshit but now that he is faced with the fact that he and Louis will never see each other again, his heart aches something terrible.  

"You wanna cuddle? Just for a bit?" Louis says after a while. 

"Can I be the big spoon?" 

"Definitely." Louis says and turns around. 

In the end, they settle on what might just be the stupidest idea ever, before Niall falls asleep, pressing Louis as close as he can, while he still has the chance. 

*** 

Niall wakes up with the headache of a lifetime. He squints and looks around the room, finding that he is alone. Louis' clothes are gone, not that Niall had expected it any different. Still, his can feel the disappointment twist his insides. With a sigh he pulls back the covers and drags himself out of bed. He texts Harry to let him know that he is awake, and they agree to meet for breakfast in half an hour. With the hangover slowing him down, it takes Niall almost the full 30 minutes to take a shower and get dressed. He hopes the hotel restaurant doesn't mind his he wet hair. He's also wearing the last clean outfit he brought to the States and it's a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. But it's fitting to Niall's emotional situation.  

Harry and Nick are already seated at a small table in front of the windows when Niall arrives. While they both look a tad pale from not enough sleep, soft smiles brighten up both of their faces as they talk quietly to each other. A wave of nausea overcomes Niall. Not at their obvious love but rather as the scent of fried breakfast food hits his nose. 

"Morning." Niall grimaces  

Harry and Nick break apart to greet Niall and make room for him at the table. 

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mister Horan-Tomlinson. How was your night? Did you sleep well." Harry asks with a smirk. Niall envies him. Only two years younger but so much less prone to hangovers already.  

"Fuck off, Harry." Niall mutters as he pours coffee from a pot on the table into on of the empty mugs. He needs some time to feel human again before he can deal with Harry's snide remarks. At least Nick is keeping himself in check. Maybe he is just sad that this short holiday trip is over soon and he has to go back to getting up at the crack of dawn to entertain the nation in the morning, who knows. But Niall is grateful. Harry keeps starting at him, his eyebrows raised, waiting for something from Niall. 

"What?" Niall asks after a minute of silence and after he had some sips of lukewarm coffee.  

"Are you seriously not going to talk about it?" he asks with indignation in his voice. "I saw you and Louis leave, you know?"  

"Harold, let the poor lad wake up before you ask him to spill the gossip." Nick throws in. 

"Thank you, Nick!"   

"I'm just curious. Aren't you, babe? He disappeared with Louis and now he has a huge lovebite on his neck."  

Niall had seen the lovebite when he had gotten out of the shower but it's not like he could have done anything about it. And no one is going to believe that he fell down or something, least of all Harry.  

"Well, I guess that tells you everything that you need to know, doesn't it?" Nick asks. 

Niall is saved by a waiter stopping by to ask him for his order. He orders something with eggs and bacon, not really reading the menu and a big glass of iced water, hoping it will lessen the headache that has only gotten worse.  

The waiter leaves and Niall notices that Harry is still staring at him.  

"Okay … yeah I slept with him." Niall breaths out. "Are you happy now?" 

"Are you happy?" Harry smirks. 

Nick smacks Harry over the head softly but he is also smiling at Niall. At his point Niall just assumes that Harry tells Nick whatever Niall had told him, so Nick probably knows all about Niall's love life anyway. He might as well talk. 

"Yeah it was … nice."  

"Nice." Harry snorts. "Having a quiet night in is nice, you had hot hotel room sex with an almost stranger. I hope it was more than nice. I wanna know everything." 

"I'm not gonna give you any details, Harry."  

"That's not fair, I always tell you everything!" 

"Yeah, but it's not like I asked to know what Grimmy is like in bed."  

"Where is Louis?" Nick says, trying to change the topic for Niall.  

"Dunno, probably in his room." Niall shrugs. 

Harry almost chokes on his sip of coffee.  

"He left?... Wow. Rude!" he exclaims. 

"No. Well … yeah he did." Niall takes a breath. "But we agreed on it." 

He then tells Nick and Harry the whole story. He gets interrupted by the waiter being back with his food. Harry's eyebrows get more and more scrunched up as Niall is telling the story, but at least he is not interrupting Niall. Nick's face remains expressionless, but Niall reckons that's only because Nick has had some sort of media training and a lot of experience over the years in not reacting visibly to what he is hearing. 

"You … decided to not see each other again. And deleted your phone numbers and Facebook and everything. Why?" Harry asks slowly. 

Niall sighs. He had a feeling that Harry wouldn't understand it.  

"You've seen that How I Met Your Mother episode where Ted meets Victoria at that wedding and they agree to not exchanges numbers and never see each other again and keep the night perfect in their memories?"  

"Yeah?" 

"That's what we're doing. We had a great time and we will keep it like that forever. It was a once in a lifetime thing." 

Niall hopes appealing to Harry's romantic side will get him off his back about it.  

"Yeah, I've seen the episode. That's why I know it ended in disaster for them. Also, they didn't even kiss and you and Louis did … well I don't know what you did but I'm sure it involved a lot more than kissing." Niall worries the frown will become a permanent fixture of Harry's face. 

And of course he knows how it ended on the show. Louis and he had talked about it.  

"But that was fictional. It didn't work for plot reasons. Louis and I agree that this is the best way to handle it. It's perfect." Before Harry can say anything against it Niall stops him. "And either way, nothing could ever happen between Louis and me. He lives in LA. I live in London, my whole life is there so I couldn't just move here even if I wanted to give it a shot. And he has his son here. And also … we met less than a week ago. It's really not that big a deal. We had a fun night, we both needed that and now we each go our separate ways again." 

If he repeats it often enough, it might even start to feel like that, Niall thinks. 

The look on Harry's face isn't more relaxed after listening to that explanation. Nick has put his arm around his boyfriend.  

"It's like a one night stand, really. We had sex and now we won't see each other again. It really isn't that big of a deal." Niall sighs again. His headache isn't getting any better and talking to Harry seems to make his already grumpy mood worse. All he wants to do is have breakfast, maybe take a short dip in the pool and then, after a nap, drive to the airport.  

But Harry isn't letting himself get pacified by Nick's arm and Niall's words.  

"You don't do one night stands. You do feelings and romance." He shakes his head. "I'm worried about you." 

That's when Zayn joins them. To Niall's surprise, he doesn't look much worse than he usually does in the morning.  

"Niall slept with Louis." Harry says as soon as Zayn has had just a sip of coffee. But Zayn doesn't even pretend to look shocked. He just shrugs. 

"But Niall is not the type to just do that." Harry continues, obviously trying to get an opinion on the topic out of a tired and probably hungover Zayn. Niall would laugh, if he were in any mood for it. 

Maybe Harry is right about what Niall usually does. But he is in his twenties and there really is no better time to sleep around a bit and try new things. It's not like Niall is actually in love. Rationally Niall knows it's just infatuation at the most. It's going to get so much easier once he is back in London. Harry has launched into a speech about Niall's previous relationships and how even the most casual one, with Bressie, is based on a strong mutual friendship, in order to prove to him that he doesn't do casual. 

"Every time you come back from Dublin, you mope about for at least a week because you miss him so much. Seriously, you don't do casual."  

Then Niall is drowning him out to focus on his food until Nick takes pity and changes the topic.  

Niall doesn't manage to squeeze in a quick swim in the pool as he falls asleep as soon as he gets to his room. The bed still smells of Louis and it makes him feel so comfortable, his eyes just fall shut. The next thing he knows is the sharp knocking on his door before Harry enters and drags him out of his bed while yelling at him about why he hasn't packed his bags yet.  

All of them meet again in the lobby of the hotel once Niall is done. Zayn has woken up and is back to his normal self, a lazy smile on his lips and looking effortlessly cool with his bag slung over his shoulder and a camera in his hand. 

"This weeks wasn't what I expected it to be." He grins at Niall. 

"Tell me about it." 

"If I'm ever back in England …" 

"Definitely hit me up. I'd be mad otherwise." 

Then there is lot of hugging and promises of calls between Zayn and everyone.  

The journey to the airport is a quiet affair. Niall is feeling a bit queasy after the food and Harry and Nick are doing this thing where they aren't aware of anyone outside of their bubble. Niall just puts in his headphones and concentrates on not throwing up inside the car. 

Nothing changes once they get to the airport. Niall keeps the music on and quietly shuffles after Harry and Nick towards their gate.  Since Nick booked the flight after them, his seat is somewhere else on the plane, but Niall had readily agreed to switch with him even before Nick had even arrived. He is rather glad, if he is being honest. The whole week coming to an end, on top of the wedding, has him feeling really down. The take-off almost makes him throw up and he can feel his claustrophobia acting up, even though he got the aisle seat. The airhostess is rather nice about it and brings him some water and peanuts even before they officially start the service. Other than that, nothing really happens on the flight. Harry walks over after a couple of hours, but Niall pretends to be asleep. He isn't in the mood to talk about. Maybe he really is moping a bit. It doesn't matter really, he'll get over it once he's back home and can down himself in work. The video he did with Zayn is done and Niall has it saved on his hard drive already, all he needs to do is wait for Zayn to post part one. But there is still the matter of the wedding video. And all the behind the scenes footage. Niall will have to watch it all and decide which parts he definitely wants to have in the video before Harry does the final cut. And then there are all the other projects he's working on. Yes, Niall thinks, It'll be fine.  

They say their goodbyes to Nick at the airport as he'll goes straight back to bed, in order to get up early for his show. This short trip must have messed up sleeping schedule. Love must be a beautiful thing, if it makes you do things like that.  

Maybe Niall will make a video about them next. It would fit into this love series thing he is doing.  

Harry elbows Niall when they in the cab as he still hasn't said anything that wasn't some grunts and sighs.  

"Ni, you alright?" 

"Yeah." Niall nods.  

"You don't seem like it."  

"Just jetlagged I guess... didn't sleep much on the plane."  

"Hm." Harry says and Niall thinks he'll get away with it. But then he turns towards him again.  

"You know, I found Louis on Twitter. You can just DM him. Or just add him on Facebook again." 

"Why would I do that?"  

"You don't need to pretend. I've seen the footage of the wedding. Nick and I watched it on the plane. I haven't seen you like that in ... actually I don't think I've seen you any time like I've seen you this week, you know?"  

"I barely know him and we were pretending to get married. Of course I looked happy. There is nothing to be sad about. We've been over it, Harry." Niall sighs. He just wants to sleep. He didn't lie to Harry when he said that he hadn't slept much.  

When they get to the flat, Niall doesn't even bother with his bags. The gets undressed, throwing the clothes in his hamper before falling into his bed in his boxers. He's asleep before his head hits the pillows.  

The next time he wakes up it is dark in his room. With his eyes barely open, Niall rummages around the bed for his phone to check the time. 3:34am. He has slept 8 hours already. In his head it feels like he slept 12. Every muscle in his body feels sore and his head hurts as if he had been drinking heavily. He must have slept funny. Feeling like there is nothing he can do about it, Niall gets up. The rest of the flat is in the dark and quietly sneaks into the bathroom to get a much-needed shower. The scent of airplane is still clinging to his skin, along with the sweat from dragging his luggage up the third floor. The shower soothes Niall's thoughts for a bit. There is nothing like your own shower. After not having it for a week, it's like Niall's own personal heaven. He stays under the spray for much longer than would be needed, scrubbing his skin clean with Harry's sugar scrub until his skin feels raw and smells like cinnamon. He even moisturises afterwards. When there is nothing left he can do in the bathroom, he makes his way into kitchen next. He might not be like Harry, but he is definitely able to whip up something to eat. He makes cereal, but it counts. With his phone still charging on his bedside table, there is nothing to occupy his mind. Soon, he feels like a right idiot, sitting in the dark and having cereal at 4am. Not really a high point on his life. From his seat at the breakfast bar, Niall can overlook the rest of the living room/kitchen combo. This is London, most rooms have a double function. But this is okay. Harry has spent hours and a lot of his own savings on making their flat look like it came out of home furnishing catalogue. IKEA decorators could get inspiration from their living room, the modern Scandinavian theme being almost overwhelming. It's way too early to start playing the guitar but Niall thinks he can risk messing around with some of his earlier songs, maybe get some fresh ideas. There is a deadline looming on the horizon until which he wants to release his first album of all original songs instead of mostly covers. He has some songs sort of recorded but is far from happy with them. They are missing .... something.  

He's not even playing the strings really, just lightly toughing them, imagining their sounds in his head but it still manages make Harry shuffle into the living room. Harry's hair is in a messy bun on his head and he's wearing chequered flannel pyjama bottoms and no t-shirt, even though the temperatures back here are less than mild.  

"Couldn't sleep?" Harry asks. 

Niall just shakes his head. 

"Can you please admit that it's because of Louis." Harry sighs. "Denial won't help, you know." 

"It's… it's nothing. It's jetlag and not a man I didn't even know a week ago." Niall insists again. Mind over matter. If he repeats it often enough, it will come true. 

"It will get better." Harry says again before he starts to make tea for both of them. They pretty much sit in silence until the sun comes up. Just Niall playing his guitar and Harry watching.  

*** 

It doesn't get better. Not after a week and not after a month. The video of the wedding goes up two weeks after they filmed it, Harry having done amazing work on it, as always. As a bonus, he also made a behind the scenes video using some of the shots he couldn't fit into the original one, as well as some footage Niall has never seen before. Nick had apparently filmed a lot at the reception using Zayn's camera. There is a longer version of Niall and Louis dancing in the chapel and then a cut to them silly dancing on the dancefloor. Niall feels like someone has his heart in a vice like grip. He doesn't even finish watching it, trusting Harry that it is perfectly edited as usual and just uploads both of them.  

The video quickly becomes his "most clicked in the first 24 hours" one. 

*** 

After two months, Bressie is in London for a couple of days and texts Niall. They meet at a pub but instead of their usual sparks there is nothing going on between them that isn't friendship. They drink their pints and talk until the pub closes and while Bressie sleeps over on their couch, not even a cheeky snog is happening.  

"That Louis guy must be really grand." Bressie mutters as they hug goodbye the next day. 

Niall doesn't even try to convince Bressie of anything else.  

*** 

It's the end of June when Harry comes home with a bottle of wine and a sixpack of beers and forces Niall to have a sit on he sofa. It's been a while since Harry had been home in the evening. These days he spends most of his time at Nick's. Niall can't blame him, as he knows he has been a less than entertaining friend. He's working on it. He's doing much better already. 

Niall is still confused about what is going on when Harry opens a bottle of beer and presses it into Niall's hand.  

"Cheers." He says as he raises his glass of wine. 

"Cheers?" 

Niall has a sip of his beer, never saying no to having a drink really. He'd just like to know what he's drinking to. 

"Can you promise me something?" Harry asks, having turned all serious. 

"I guess?" Worry rises in Niall. 

"Promise me that you remember you are my friend and love you a lot and that's why I did it."  

This does nothing to calm Niall's heart. Rather, it makes his heart beat even faster, the room starts to spin a bit. 

"What did you do Harry?" he presses out.  

"You'll find out in a minute. Have a bit more beer." Harry smiles sheepishly.  

Nausea is climbing up Niall's insides, but he does follow Harry's advice. In more or less one big gulp, Niall empties his bottle. As he sets it down on the table, he notices how much his hands are shaking.  

Then the doorbell rings.   

Harry's face lights up but he makes no indication of getting up so even with a stinging feeling of dread inside of him, Niall makes his way to the front door to open it. When he does, he can't believe his eyes.  

"Hi." Louis says with a small wave.  

Niall's first instinct is to throw the door back shut but he manages to resist the urge while he processes what he is seeing. Time stops and Niall can see Louis' brows scrunching together, a frown growing on his face.  

"Um … hi?" Niall says at last. He mentally slaps himself.  

Louis is awkwardly shuffling from one foot to the other in front of Niall and it is Harry who walks up behind them and tells Louis to come in.  

Niall wordlessly steps out of the way and closes the door as Louis carefully unties his trainers. He looks a bit different, Niall thinks. Thinner, maybe and his hair and beard a bit longer, giving him a dishevelled look, but in a good way.  

"Oh for fuck's sake, can you guys please just hug or something?" Harry sighs loudly and both Niall and Louis flinch at the tone.  

But seeing as hugging Louis is pretty much all Niall had wanted for the past couple of months, he readily does as he is told and embraces Louis.  

And Louis melts in his arms. Niall can feel the stiffness leaving his body as Louis hugs him back, pressing his whole body against him. Niall breathes in the familiar scent of Louis, still not quite convinced this is really happening.  

"What are you doing here?" Niall asks when they break apart at least.  

"I was in Doncaster, visiting my family and then Harry called me and told me to stop by. So I did." Louis rushes out.  

Niall is breathless with happiness and just hugs Louis again instead of answering.  

"How long are you in London? And where are you staying?" 

"Just another day and honestly, nowhere." Louis blushes. "I didn't think this through. Harry asked and I just said yes. Oh my god…" 

"It's fine," Niall rushes to calm Louis down. "You stay here of course. God, I can't believe you're here." 

"Me neither." 

They continue smiling at each other and only realise that Harry had left when the front door fall shut loudly. Niall has had Louis's hands in his since they broke the hug and it just feels natural to lean in kiss Louis. So he does.  

There is no hurry in their kiss, their lips slotting together easily, as if they are meant to be. It's crazy how fast Niall's heart beats. They make it to Niall's room before he stops them. 

"Wait … wait." He breathes out.  

Louis immediately listens and takes a step back. He, too, is breathing heavily.  

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. This isn't what I came here for, I swear." He says as he wipes a thumb over his lips.  

The image gives Niall some thoughts, but the pushes them out of his mind. For now.  

"It's not like I don't like this but … I feel like we should talk? I'm still not quite sure I understand what is going on here."  

Niall walks over to his bed and pats the empty space next to him. Louis sits down, but at a respectable distance away from him.  

"You're right, brilliant idea." He says as he adjusts himself in his jeans.  

"God … I'm just … you're here."  

"Yeah." 

"Harry said he did something that would make me mad but … fuck … " Niall won't win any prizes in eloquence at this rate.  

"Are you mad?" Louis asks. 

"Why would I be?"  

"I know we said we wouldn't see each other again. And then I turn up like this …" He shrugs. 

"I don't know how to feel, to be honest. But I'm not mad, at all." Niall sighs again. "I thought about you a lot, you know." 

"Yeah?" A smile spreads across Louis' face. "I thought about you too. A lot. Probably talked Zayn's ear off."  

Niall is not surprised to hear that Zayn and Louis stayed in contact, they did get along great, but he is surprised at the surge of jealously at the mention of his name. It doesn't feel fair that Zayn gets to keep Louis while he doesn't. He's also mad that Zayn never said they are still in contact.  

"I ignored all of Harry's questions about you. But I guess he knew." 

"You think he and Zayn talked?"  

"I'm sure they did. They did become quite close friends." 

Another reason why he is surprised to not have known about Louis and Zayn. But Maybe Harry didn’t want to push. For once in his life.  

"So where does that leave us?" Niall whispers after a while.  

"I don't want to continue not talking to you. It didn't make the night better." 

"We were idiots, weren't we?"  

Niall pulls Louis towards himself in a hug. Louis nuzzles his face into Niall's neck and Niall has to close his eyes at the rush of emotions he feels. He fears that every second now he will wake up from whatever dream this is.  

"But this doesn't change anything, does it?" Louis says. 

"Maybe not, but we'll be in it together, yeah?" Niall mutters into the top of Louis' head, kissing his hair, everything to feel close to Louis. "I'm willing to try, if you want to." 

Louis entangles himself and properly meets Niall's eyes.  

"Of course I want to. God, there is nothing I want more. But you know I cannot move away form my son. I will always choose him before everything else."  

"I would never ask you to," Niall shakes his head, "But we will find a way to make this work." 

"Okay." 

"Now, since we don't have much time, please tell me everything I missed. What did you do? How's Freddie? Is he talking yet …" 

*** 

It's 5am by the time Louis falls asleep. Niall is too keyed up from all the talking and the fact that Louis is actually here. After watching Louis sleep for a moment, like a creep, he gets up and figures a cup of tea might do him good. He is surprised to find Harry sitting in the kitchen, not having heard him coming home. The soft early morning light makes the kitchen feel a special kind of calm. Harry is sitting in one of the high chairs, as always occupied on his phone.  

"What are you doing up?" Niall asks quietly. 

"Could ask you the same thing. Don't you have someone waiting for in your bed?" he grins back. 

"That … was pretty bold of you." Niall shakes his head.  

"But did it work?"  

"I don't know." Niall jumps onto the seat next to Harry. "We said we don't want to leave it like last time. But there is still the fact that I live here and he lives there and we actually don't know each other that well." A sigh leaves his mouth. So much sighing going on in his life lately.  

"You know he watched pretty much every single on of your videos." 

"How did you– Zayn?" 

Harry nods. 

"We're gonna try … something. Long distance. We'll figure something out." 

"Good. I really hope you do. Because I need to admit another thing." 

Harry looks nervous all of a sudden, not playful like the evening before.  

"I got a job offer. A good one." 

Niall doesn't even need to think before he tells Harry to take it. He knew this day would come.   

"That's not really the problem. The real issues is," he pauses to collect himself, "the job is in San Francisco"  

"But … But Nick?" is all Niall can say. 

"Nick is quitting Breakfast. He's wanted to for a while now, even before the job." 

It hits Niall. 

"You are already accepted. You're going to San Francisco." It's not a question.  

"Come with me." 

"What?" Niall doesn't get it. 

"Look when you said your life is here, you said you would never leave me and be all alone in LA, in case it doesn't work out. I didn't look for the job, but I got it offered and then realised this is your chance as well. You can do your videos from LA. San Francisco is a 5 hour drive away, but better than a 11 hour flight. You know Zayn, so it's not like you would be alone. And you could give this with Louis a shot. A real shot."  

Slowly the words start to sink in. It is true that Niall can do his videos from wherever. He can also work on his original music in LA, there are more than enough studios. He adores Zayn. And the best of all, he and Louis could actually go out. Date. Whatever they want to call it. 

"When do you start?" Niall whispers, not trusting his words. The last couple of hours have been a whirlwind of emotions. 

"I'm moving in September. After Nick's contract runs out." 

"Would it be crazy?" Niall asks. 

"To move to another continent for a guy you barely know? Sure. But you married him after knowing him for about a day, so who am I to judge. I guess sometimes it just works." 

Niall knows there are other factors to consider. His family in Ireland. Whether he could get a work licence in America. His other friends in London. But for now he entertains the idea that all of there are small issues that can be overcome. He just has to be brave. For now, he heads back to his room and snuggles close to Louis. This is something that needs to be discussed in the morning. Even though Niall has a strong feeling that he already knows Louis' answer.  

*** 

"What time does your dad arrive again?" Louis' voice drifts up the stairs.  

"His plane lands at 12:45, I put a reminder on the fridge." Niall shouts back and shakes his head. Louis should know this. 

"Your dad is a mess when it comes to time, isn't he?" he mutters more to himself than to Freddie, who is waiting in front of him, needing help with his tie. 

"He says that he has you for that." Freddie answers.  

"So? Is that all that I am to him." Niall fakes shock. 

"You know that he loves you, Ni. That's why you are getting married today."  

"That's right. Now let's see about that tie, shall we? You want to look your best today." 

He fixes Freddie's tie and takes a step back to appreciate his work. Freddie has grown into a brilliant kid, almost 6 now and still the spitting image of Louis. Sometimes his American accent gives way for some very Yorkshire words and Niall thinks it's the cutest thing he has ever seen. But pretty much everything Freddie does is the cutest thing to Niall. He might not be his father, but he loves the boy like his own.  

Louis comes up to the room only a moment later. 

"How are my favourite boys? All done?" he smiles  

"We're done, dad. Niall fixed my tie like his, now we look the same." Freddie points out their matching blue suits with pride.  

"Wow, I'm so lucky to have both of you in my life." Another smile hushes across his face. "Now, Freddie, can you go put on your shoes? We're getting your granddad from the airport and then we're going to the beach."  

Freddie jumps into action and races down the stairs. Both Louis and Niall yell 'Be careful!' after him and then start laughing.  

"He's growing up so fast." Louis mutters. 

"You've been saying that every day for last four years." Niall reminds him. 

"Doesn't make it less true." 

"Are you ready, then?" 

"Nothing like I haven't done before, isn't it?" Louis says before he kisses Niall quickly. The kiss is short and interrupted by Freddie yelling at them that he is ready and with a sigh Niall and Louis break apart. There will be enough kissing at the wedding tonight. Not a Vegas wedding but a real outdoor beach wedding they've been planning together for years.  

Everyone will be there. Both Niall and Louis' families are flying over from England and Ireland. Zayn and his girlfriend will be there. Harry, Nick and their 5 month old son Arlo have been in LA for the past week already. It's all worked out perfect for everyone. 

Niall can't believe he has gotten this lucky. Maybe marrying a stranger in Las Vegas was the best idea he has ever had.  

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, thank you again! 
> 
> I have some ideas for scenes from Louis' POV so if there is an audience for that, let me know and I'll post them.


End file.
